Behind Green Eyes
by Wartermehloan
Summary: It started with an underestimated little girl and her famous brother, it ended with the war to end wars. With drama, danger, and death at each twist and turn, see how differently events would furl out if Harry Potter were to have a sister. Olympia Potter, SIS Fic - tried to avoid cliche
1. Chapter 1

**So this is my first HP fic,**

 **What you need to know:**

 **\- I swear this won't be super cliche**

 **\- I swear it won't obsessively follow canon to a point where you might as well be reading the books (like sooooo many fics I have read do)**

 **\- I swear I will do my best to put as much originality and quality into this as possible - I've planned the whole plot and thought about it a lot and ngl I'm pretty excited.**

 **\- I swear the more reviews I get the quicker I'll post (I've already written a couple of chapters in advance and could post anytime**

 **\- I swear to take constructive criticism (how am I going to improve otherwise?) and not get butt-hurt by it - I encourage it actually.**

 **Hope you enjoy it - preeettty please give meh some feedback**

1

A fine, misty rain hung down over the rooftops and gardens of Little Whinging. The water coating all it touched with glistening beads of tiny droplets. The low clouds that grew thick overhead completely blocked the sunlight. It would be generous to call it a downpour; perhaps closer to a miserable fog, that inspired a coolness in the air quite unusual for early September.

It was on this day that one little girl sat gazing unseeingly out of an upstairs window of Number 4 Privet Drive. It was this day that this little girl knew for a fact would be the worst one she'd ever have.

Olympia Potter sat, slouched, as her fingers lazily traced irregular patterns into the condensation that clouded the frosty glass.

Her heart had been growing tense over the past days. Tighter and tighter as the time grew closer and closer, until it was left now as a suffocating ball lodged cancerously in her throat, so big she was unsure how she was able to breathe around it.

How was she going to do it? How was she ever going to get through a whole year by herself?

 _Alone._

The word echoed painfully through her whole body and she gave a shiver.

She didn't want him to leave. Every fibre in her body begged him to stay with her. But those fibres - she knew - were selfish and childish.

Harry, had of corse, offered to stay behind almost every minute of the whole summer. In fact, when Hagrid had first explained to them both that they were magical and that he could go to a school for Wizards, he had flat out denied.

It had been her own convincing that had helped him reach the decision to go. If it wasn't for her insisting that she was going to be fine and that he was being ridiculous, this day would never have come.

The door creaked open and she hastily wiped a tear from her cheek before turning around sharply to see her brother standing sadly in the doorway.

"Hey Harry." She greeted brightly, perhaps too brightly.

Harry frowned, "Are you okay, Mia?" He asked, his eyes narrowing in the typical scrutinising big-brother-Harry fashion. He'd been avidly searching for a sign that she wasn't okay the whole summer, Mia was just as determinedly not giving him one.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Even she knew it wasn't convincing; he had caught her off guard and it was hard to act when she was speaking round a huge lump in her throat.

Harry's face fell sadly and he moved smoothly to wrap her in a hug.

Mia buried her face into his woolen-clad chest, trying valiantly to hide the tears that were rolling uncontrollably from her eyes. Damn, she had been doing so well until then.

"I'm not going to go." He said firmly.

Mia rolled her eyes; he had been saying that if his sister so much as looked downward. Any sign that she wasn't okay with him leaving he'd change his mind again.

She took a big breath and pulled away so he could see her face. "Your train leaves in a couple hours. I think it's a bit late to be a chicken about it," She feigned a smirk. "I'll be fine."

"Your crying." He argued.

"Yeah. Am I not aloud to be sad about you leaving?" She asked, wiping her eyes with a hiccup, "I still want you to go though."

He didn't crack a smile, "It's your last chance Mia, are you sure you're going to be okay?"

Mia huffed tiredly, "For the last time Harry, I'm a big girl now." _Please don't go_ , "Besides, it might actually be fun finally not having my annoying big brother around, maybe I'll make some more friends now I don't have you tagging along." She joked, it didn't reach her eyes.

He didn't buy it. His gaze lingered over her worriedly, " _Olly_?"

Mia grimaced, "Don't call me that."

She shuffled uncomfortably under the penetrative scrutiny of his stare.

He watched her a moment longer, his eyes darting over every inch of her, hunting for any cracks she may have in her mask.

She seemed to pass some test because his face softened and he ruffled her hair. She swatted his hand away indignantly.

The truth was, Mia didn't have many friends. And she wasn't going to be okay. How could she possibly be okay left with the Dursely's _alone_ for an _entire year_? Olympia was ten. She'd have to wait until next summer for him to come back and they could both leave the Dursley's together to go to the school of magic - Hogwarts.

 _If I even am magic that is._

The betraying words had been reverberating around her brain the whole summer. She pushed them aside like she always did. She couldn't afford to think about what would happen if Harry was gone and she had to stay at Privet Drive for seven years.

The day Hagrid had come and found them to give Harry his letter was one of the best she'd ever had. He had saved them, and for a few moments she'd let that hope carry her. They would finally leave the Dursley's! Only for it to be thrown in her face when he'd said he was sorry but they only let in eleven year olds.

She'd been secretly heartbroken for days - not that she'd let Harry know that.

She had liked Hagrid, and she'd liked him even more after the shopping trip for Harry's school stuff. Diagon Alley had blown her away. She had never been more happy in her life, seeing the world she'd be a part of next year. She had even been able to buy Harry the best birthday present she'd ever given him: she had taken advice from Hagrid to buy him a real life owl. The huge man had told her that students at Hogwart's could keep pets - but that owls were useful for sending letters. Her heart had lit up knowing there would be a way to talk to her brother so it was an easy decision. Hedwig - Harry had later named her - was the most beautiful bird she had ever seen and she had picked it almost immediately out of all of the other pets.

Of corse, she couldn't help being jealous of her brother, seeing all of the new, amazing, _magical_ things he had gotten. But ultimately she was happy for him, and that's why she had convinced him to go. She just had a bit of convincing herself to do.

"Come on then, if you're such a big girl you can help me bring all my stuff down to the car." He grinned.

Mia stuck her tongue out at him, "Prat."

"Twerp."

Mia quickly dodged to avoid another noogie.

"Rock, paper, scissors?" She suggested, nodding her head at the lighter pile that needed carrying down.

Harry grinned at the game they'd played since Mia could remember.

 _I'm going to miss you_.

They threw their fists three times.

Mia burst into giggles. Harry didn't realise, but he _always_ picked rock, so Mia always went for paper.

Harry puffed, "How're you always so good at that game?"

She shrugged innocently and pounced victoriously to the lighter pile.

Both Potters were cursed with being short for their age and weedily-framed. It took a couple rounds up and down the stairs each before they got all of Harry's stuff to the driveway.

They were by the front door catching their breath when Uncle Vernon marched past - nearly knocking Mia into a perfectly pruned (by Harry) hedge of roses.

"Boy! Say goodbye to your idiot sister quickly if you still expect me to drive you all the way to London. Can't be long, Petunia has invited the Polkiss' for lunch."

Mia had to force herself to look up at Harry, her eyes prickling painfully. She bit her lip hard to keep from crying again.

They looked awkwardly at each other. How did you say goodbye to the one person you'd seen every day for your entire life? How did you say goodbye to your family? How did you say goodbye to your best and only friend in the world?

After a few moments of silent foot shuffling and fidgeting, Mia let out a choked cough, "I, um... I want you to have this."

Her fingers fumbled to reach into her jean pocket. Her palm opened clumsily to reveal a cool, smooth, black, misshapen-stone. Its smooth surface was carved intricately, laced with silver swirling patterns.

Harry's eyes lit up in recognition, "Wow, did you polish it?" He asked.

"Mm, hmm," she hummed, "And I drilled a small hole so you can wear it around your neck." She added, revealing the tattered old leather string she had thread through the hole.

It was a gift Harry had watched Hagrid give her the day they went to Diagon Alley. The huge man had obviously noticed the younger Potter growing a little upset at all the new stuff Harry was getting and took pity on her. He had told her he'd bought something with him for her and had fumbled around randomly in his giant pockets for anything to give her. He'd eventually pulled out the stone (which had been grey and faded at the time) and knelt to her height. "Now yeh'd better be careful with 'is one, Mia. Is' a special stone, meant fer protection an' the sor'."

Mia had kept it by her side ever since.

Harry shook his head, "...Mia, I can't take this..."

"I want you to have it." She said insisted, putting it in his hand and forcefully closing his fingers around it, "So I know you're okay." She added quietly.

Harry looked as though he was going to put up a fight, but, slowly, he tightened his fingers into a fist around the stone and smiled sadly, "Thanks Mia… I- I love it. But you don't have to worry about me."

He would notice later that carved into the back of the stone was a haggardly scratched ' _PRAT'_ in huge letters, but he needn't know that now.

Mia wrapped her small arms around her big brother, hugging him fiercely, "And _you_ don't have to worry about me."

* * *

It was worse than she could have imagined.

Harry's loss hit Mia hard in the months that followed. She couldn't ever have imagined how much she would miss him.

He wasn't there to snuggle up to when it was cold in their cupboard. There was no one to ask her what she'd done at school that day.

There was no one who _cared_.

The only plus side was that Dudley was boarding at Smeltings, meaning he wasn't around the house or at the same school as her. Which was just as well because she didn't have Harry to protect her from him anymore.

School was even more miserable than she remembered it. She had started the year having a real effort at making friends, never having had many in the past. That ended in disaster.

The truth was, she had no idea how to speak to people unless that person was Harry. There wasn't anyone to ask how people made friends.

She would watch a group of girls all laughing and gossiping and wonder how they did it. What did they talk to each other about? Maybe they didn't talk to her because she wore ugly clothes? Or was it because she looked different.

It was true that Mia wasn't exactly 'normal' looking. All the girls chatting to each other were all tall, straight-haired blondes or brunettes with normal plain faces. Mia was very short and petite for her age. She had long, frizzy, and wavy deep red hair that couldn't even be classed as ginger. Freckles and dark eyebrows stood out from an unusually pale face. Yet, the most striking thing about her was her bright emerald-green eyes. They were the only thing she really shared with Harry looks-wise.

Add that to third-hand clothes that completely swallowed her up and she stuck out like a sore thumb. A very lame, lonely sore thumb.

It was one day in late October, she was hurriedly doing some last minute ironing before school when her Aunt grabbed her by the arm and forcefully spun her around. She was pulled so harshly that her grip on the iron slipped and it fell face-down onto her forearm with a sizzling hiss.

An agonised howl tore from her mouth, her arm jerked away from the searing metal.

Petunia looked a little shocked at the series of events she'd just invoked, but visibly tried to maintain her angry tirade. "You idiot girl! You shrunk my favourite floral blouse!" She yelled, wildly waving a blouse inches from Mia's face, "I only have two left now. Now I know you're not a smart girl but are you truly so _brainless_ you don't even know how to put on a wash!?"

Mia blinked away tears of pain as she stared into the red face of her furious aunt. In shock and cradling her searing hand she stuttered, "I - I'm ss-sorry Aunt Petunia."

Her Aunt's face softened a fraction when she glanced quickly down at her assaulted limb.

Mia didn't have time to blink before the floral garment was thrown at her face.

"Keep it you rat. Now get out of my face you stupid child." She demanded.

Mia scrambled to turn off the iron and hurried to her cupboard.

She couldn't believe it.

She stared in awe at the piece of light fabric in the dim light that hung from the musty, low ceiling. It was a frilly garment ridden with orange flowers on a fluorescent yellow base. Rhinestones lined the neckline right through the middle of the shirt and it cut off with a laced trim.

It wasn't some ripped, oversized hand-me-down shirt.

It was girly, it would fit her, and it was _hers._

A grin erupted from her face.

She tore off the outfit she was wearing and threw on the shirt. Scrambling to get into her nicest trousers (they were actually denim shorts on Dudley but they had a tight drawstring and no rips) she hurried to the bathroom and stood on top the toilet seat.

She wasn't quite tall enough to be able to see her whole body in the mirror but she saw enough. Admittedly, the orange and yellow didn't quite go with her flaming hair but she didn't let that deter her.

She actually felt like _a girl._

She brushed her waist-length hair as best she could and carefully tied it into the tidiest plait she'd ever managed to do. Nothing could wipe the smile from her face.

So excited was she that she forgot about her throbbing, injured forearm that needed tending until she was almost going to be late for school.

Running back into the house as quickly as she could, she ripped off a piece of the Aloe plant in the kitchen and got into the car just before her uncle threatened he would leave without her.

His usual angry tirade of what a waste of space she was fell upon deaf ears. Nothing could make her upset today, she thought as she rubbed the Aloe gel onto her burn. Today would be the day she'd finally fit in with the girls. _Today I'm finally going to make a friend._

* * *

As she approached her classroom, her good spirits had been tampered down to a biting nervousness that ate its way through her stomach.

Walking through the doorway she took in a shaky breath, looking at all of her chatting classmates sitting in their various cliques.

Slowly, she made her way to her usual desk nearer the back of the room, trying to keep her back straight and her head high.

People started to surreptitiously nudge their friends and heads turned to look at her.

Mia tried to keep the blush away from her cheeks. She wasn't used to being the centre of attention and she couldn't say she liked it, but she knew it would help her to make friends if she wasn't a blur in the background. All of the popular girls always got attention. She already knew they would stare anyway - the blouse was so different to the usual rags she wore.

However, as the day wore on, no one came up to speak to her. Nor did any newfound courage come with the new outfit to get up and go speak to anyone herself.

She could feel distress and anxiety well up inside her. If they didn't even like her when she looked _normal_ , maybe she just wasn't likeable at all. Maybe it was simply _her._

Her breathing grew harsh and fast.

She couldn't change who she was; she didn't know _how!_

What if she never made a friend. Harry was so popular.

What if she grew up and Harry would leave her to be with his friends, she'd be left alone with the Dursley's for the rest of her life.

A sudden nauseous feeling surged within her and she swayed on her feet.

The room started tunneling and spinning, the chatter in the dining hall amplifying. Her breath caught in her throat.

Mechanically, the ten year old got up from her chair in the cafeteria and walked to the nearest bathroom.

To her relief, she wasn't actually sick. She just sat on the toilet seat of a locked cubicle and stared at the door. She didn't cry, her thoughts were running too fast to even think to cry.

Her heart was in her throat and pounded painfully. Her arms and legs were dead weights.

 _What if I never leave Privet Drive._

 _What if I'm not magical and I have to grow up with these girls._

 _What if Harry finds out I have no friends and is disappointed in me._

 _What if Harry is so popular at Hogwarts he won't think I'm cool enough to hang out with._

It was true that Harry hadn't sent her any letters since he had left. It was late November and she had heard nothing from him. She didn't dare think too much as to why that was. It could just be that perhaps owls weren't -despite what Hagrid told her - meant to send letters. Or maybe students at Hogwarts couldn't send letters. Harry couldn't have just _forgotten_ her, could he? Maybe he was just really busy. _But he promised..._

So lost in thought, Mia jumped as the door to the bathroom swung open and admitted a group of giggling girls. She stayed silent in her cubicle.

"Oh my God, do you think it'll stain?" An annoyed voice stressed.

"Henry is honestly so annoying. Why does he think its so funny to throw food at girls _every single bloody day_!" Another voice complained.

Mia recognised the voices as two of the girls in her class, Henry was a boy in their year group too.

"My mum says it's a way of boy's flirting." A third voice helped.

"Ew. Gross."

"Well it's not working." The first one said irritably, "Gah! If this doesn't come off my mum's going to _kill_ me."

"I don't know." The second said thoughtfully. "Maybe if you add a bit more ketchup there… some mustard there… then maybe smear a bit of poo all over it, it might look just as nice as Olympia's new shirt."

Mia's blood froze.

The two girls burst into laughter.

"Oh my God! What was that girl thinking?! I wasn't going to mention it, but oh my God." One said between fits of giggles.

"My grandma has better style, and she's spent the last five years ten feet underground!"

Mia's lip started trembling. A knife was sliding down her throat and slowly tearing into her heart. Her brain had turned to ice and her vision swam. Tears rapidly cascaded down her cheeks as she hugged her legs towards her, huddled tightly in a ball on the cubicle floor.

"To be fair, I don't think she can help it." The third girl chipped, "I heard she's an orphan; with no mum and only that strange boy in the year above as a brother she probably doesn't know any better."

"Well thank God I've got a mother then. I'd rather drop dead then wear what she does; those rags make me want to gag. Mind you, I think I prefer them to that top today."

"Aw, I do feel bad for her. Maybe I'll ask Daddy to give some more money to an orphan charity this year."

"I think she'd probably still dress the same if she wasn't an orphan. I heard her parents died because they were drunks and crashed their car - they probably wore the same bin bags their daughter wears now."

Something inside Mia snapped.

A fire rushed down her arms and into her fingertips. The next thing she heard was a deafening roar. Metal tore and a harsh spray of water burst from the sink pipes that snaked around the whole of the girls bathroom.

Three high-pitched screams were literally drowned out as water blasted out from different cracks in the pipes, immediately flooding the floor.

The fire-sprinkler also erupted, instantly soaking Mia.

The ten year old couldn't find it in her to care about the sensation of being wet.

She couldn't even find it in her to be happy about her first bout of accidental magic - solid proof that she _was_ a witch.

She found herself unable to think of anything as her mind was totally numb. On stiff feet she rose and opened the door to the cubicle - the girls having long left the room.

Her clothes sodden and heavy, she ran. She didn't stop, didn't think until her feet had carried her home. She didn't notice her Aunt's surprise at her being home early, and then her screeches at being so wet indoors.

She didn't stop until she was locked in her brothers room, curled up on his bed and clinging tightly to one of his oldest, threadbare jumpers.

As her crying slowed down, as her sobs evened, as her clothes dried, hours ticked by and her gaze never strayed from the small window. She had never wished more to see her brothers snowy owl appear. She'd give anything to see his scrawled handwriting telling her about his day.

 _Today_. If he was ever going to send a letter it would have to be today.

The sun set and darkness came and there was still no owl. Eventually, her raw, leaden eyes fell shut.

 _Happy Birthday to me._

Was the last thought she had before she drifted off to oblivion.

* * *

 **Please review!**

 **Thank you so much!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Enjoy Xx**

* * *

2

Not much changed for Olympia Potter in the coming months. Without her brother she felt like she hadn't spoken at all; she had no one to speak to. Although, Christmas had been a particularly dismal affair.

Harry hadn't been allowed to come back as per the Dursley's commands. Despite the fact that Mia had been prepared for it - Uncle Vernon had told them from the start that if Harry was going to go to Hogwarts at all that he'd be there the whole year, they wouldn't have him for the holiday if they didn't have to - she couldn't have braced herself for the impact of his loss. It had been the first christmas she'd ever had without him.

To add insult to serious injury, Dudley had come home from Smeltings for the month. It got to a point where being trapped at Number 4 Privet Drive almost made her miss going to school.

The weather had been just about as miserable as Mia was. It hadn't snowed once, nor had the sun come out for even a second. An oppressive, eternal gloom could be seen out of the window at anytime of day. That didn't stop the red headed ten year old from spending most of her time outside in between chores.

One of her first chores of the winter holiday had been to clean out the Dursley's attic. It had taken nearly three days to complete but she had worked out that she could climb through the skylight and onto the roof. There was a flat portion of the roof that was perfectly positioned so that no one could see her up there, yet she could see the tops of houses, and far in the distance she could just spy the tips of trees and the shadows of hills. She had smuggled an old rug and a chair up there, making a make-shift umbrella fort to cover the chair.

It was late in the evening a few days after christmas, Mia was buried in layers of oversized jumpers, huddled under the cover of the umbrella-house she'd made while a rain lightly pattered on the thin plastic. She was reading a book she'd stolen from the school Library, _To Kill A Mockingbird_ under the dim light of some candles, when in a sudden flash, a small bulk appeared in front of her. She only had a moment to take in the large, orb-like glowing eyes, and pointed ears before a bony, long hand was covering her mouth.

She wasn't even going to let out a scream in the first place, frankly she was still in shock. Gently, she pushed the bony, grey arm away from her mouth. Mia's emerald eyes saucered as she took in the creature standing a foot away. It wasn't human, that was for sure. It probably reached Mia's waist in height and had a long, pointed nose. Coating its large round eyes were long lashes and like a toga, it wore a dirty old tea cloth and nothing on its bare feet.

"Olmy Potty missus!" The elf squeaked excitably, "It is be giving to Zibby one of the greatest honours to being meeting young missus Potty."

Mia struggled to make her brain function correctly, and then took another moment to understand the strange way of speaking. "Zibby?" Was what came out.

It's head nodded in a big motion, "I is being Zibby, Zibby is being a houself of Hogwarts and houself of master Headmaster Dumblebee."

"A house-wha…? It's nice to meet you." Mia tried smiling, her heart still pounding.

"Oh no! It be Zibby's most best pleasure, kind missus Potty!" She squawked loudly, eyes widening in awe. "Zibby is being sent to missus Potty by brave master Potty through great master Headmaster Dumblebee."

Mia's head spun trying to follow what was being said. "Wait… my brother sent you?" Zibby's head bounced in confirmation. Mia's back straightened, "What for?"

"Zibby be being here to check on Olmy Potter, make sure you's has good health. Zibby also be bringing a letter." Zibby said reverently, orbed eyes aglow.

Mia's eyes snapped open, "Letter… could I have it please Zibby?"

The skinny houself snapped its long fingers and in a puff of gold, a neatly enveloped letter lay in her palm, which she held out for Mia.

"Thank you Zibby." Mia breathed, eye's glued to the thick paper that she picked up with a delicate care.

"You's be very welcomed, kind Potty." The elf beamed.

It was that moment when things finally started to get a little better. Harry had worked out that something (probably the Dursley's) had been getting in the way of Mia receiving his letters. After getting no reply for months, he had finally gone to voice his worries to the Headmaster. Dumbledore then told Harry to give him the letters who he then passed onto Zibby, who would be able to get them Mia secretly.

Harry told her all about the school, his friends, and his teachers, and she heard even more about it from Zibby. Harry had even been able to give her a christmas present; he'd given her beginners books in subjects called Charms, Transfiguration, and History of Magic, as well as a chocolate supply that'd last her three months! Not just any chocolate either, _wizard chocolate_ , that moved and hopped and changed flavours. It was the best gift she'd ever had.

The books had been confusing at the start, but Mia had quickly taken to reading them instead of doing her schoolwork. By the end of Easter Holidays she'd read all three books twice over.

Zibby frequently came over after the sun had set and the Dursleys slept to give her a new letter from her brother, and Mia had found herself becoming just as excited to see the house elf as she was to hear from Harry. Over the months, Mia slowly started to find a friend in the excitable elf. Her only friend - discluding Harry. Zibby was the only person Mia ever talked to. The houself happily spent hours with her on end, often staying late into the morning to answer all of her questions. Zibby told her all about the Goblin Rebellions she had read in the History of Magic book. She told her all about Hogwarts, about Wizarding and elvish culture, about Dumbledore and the teachers. It didn't make her happy to hear how her kind lived and were treated, but Zibby assured her it was in their nature and they wouldn't want it another way.

Needless to say, as summer finally neared, Mia was about to burst with excitement to go to Hogwarts. She could hardly wait until her brother was home and she could finally see him.

He arrived on the first hot day of the summer. Mia had even voluntarily got in the car alone with a grumpy Uncle Vernon and a broken air conditioning system to meet him at Kings Cross.

Admittedly she had had a bit of a shock to see his face littered with healing cuts and bruises, but he was quick to assure her he was fine and he'd tell her later.

To hear about the Philosophers Stone and the face-off with Quirrel and Voldemort had, to put it lightly, freaked her out a little.

Harry had nearly _died_. Not to mention the small bomb drop of their parents' murderer being _alive!_ Well, not quite 'alive' Harry had explained, more 'undead', but still. Could he come back to life without the stone? If so how would he try to? If he were to come back, would he be after Harry? Or would he not bother concerning himself with a mere boy, even if that boy had been the one to kill him the first time round?

She hadn't dared ask too much as Zibby found it stressing, but from what the elf had told her in tales of the first war, the dark wizard didn't seem the type to let a grudge like that slide.

Harry would probably be in danger.

Once she'd come to that conclusion, she couldn't seem to think of much else. The worry gnawed at her as she mechanically went through the first weeks of the summer holiday. Zibby had assured her that Hogwarts was one of the safest places on earth. Then how could a dark wizard have nearly killed her brother in its castle? Disguised as a _teacher_ nonetheless.

It was in the third week, she had had been gardening almost the entire day. The past weeks had seen unusually high temperatures for a British summer which meant even more work had to be done in the garden. It had been yet another record roasting day which she wasn't allowed inside on, not until she'd finished her chore. It was only when the last rays of sunshine faded from over the tops of the houses in Privet Drive could she retire. The nighttime surprisingly didn't offer much reprieve from the heat, but it did give the excuse that she couldn't see what she was doing. So it was with an aching back and damp shirt that she hobbled back indoors. Her grubby feet were numb with exhaustion and thudded heavily with each footfall. It said something about her weariness that she failed to notice the muddy trail left behind her on the shining kitchen floor.

"Idiot girl!" A shrill cry boomed. Mia jumped, her hand almost letting go of the water glass she was so greedily gulping from. She spun sloppily to find the flushed face of her outraged aunt. "You are _filthy_! Look at this!" She shrieked, pointing hysterically to the bits of dirt littering the tiled floor.

"Oh, I'm sorry Aunt Petunia. Hang on, I'll just clear it up-"

"No, no, there's no time you fool. I'll do it. Just get out of my sight before Vernon see's you and go clean up this instant! The Mason's will be here any moment and they will likely be able to smell you from upstairs." _Oh the dinner party's today?_ "Your brothers already in your room, and if you know what's best for you you'll do your darn hardest to stay in there until you see sunrise, understood?"

Mia sighed resignedly and nodded, stealthily making her way out the kitchen and up the stairs to avoid a stressed Uncle Vernon.

"Hey." She mumbled tiredly, opening the door to their small room and making an immediate beeline for the single bed she promptly collapsed onto. Harry was perched somberly on the windowsill gazing thoughtfully out through the metal bars Uncle Vernon had put there a few weeks back. One hand idly fiddled with the black stone hanging from his neck and the other stroking Hedwig who was sat in her cage next to him, staring through the window just as longingly.

"Hey yourself. Are you alright, Mia?" He asked concernedly as he watched the redhead bury her face into the overstuffed pillow.

"Yeah. Tired." She grumbled. Her sunburnt face stung on contact with the old linens.

Harry huffed. "Well, at least you'll be able to get plenty of sleep tonight. I don't think we're going anywhere for awhile."

"Guess not." She agreed, rolling over to face him.

"At least we don't have much longer to go." Harry said wistfully, "You'll finally get to see Hogwarts for the first time."

Mia looked down and fingered the tips of her hair. "Yeah. Finally."

Harry narrowed his eyes at her and shuffled to face her directly, "Mia, are you not… You don't seem all that excited about it."

"I am!" She insisted, "Of corse I am. I've wanted to go all year."

"Well what's the problem then?" He asked earnestly.

"Nothing! I don't have a problem."

"I haven't known you all these years to fail to notice when you're not feeling right about something. So what is it?"

"I don't have a -"

" _Olly_." Harry scolded.

"Don't call me that!"

"Are you nervous?"

"No!"

"What is it then?"

"You nearly died Harry! Of corse I'm not feeling ' _right'_."

"Oh, you're scared." Harry noted sedately.

"I'm not _scared_! I just…" She breathed heavily and shuffled to sit up on the bed, "I'm just worried."

Harry got up and moved to sit next to her on the lumpy mattress they shared. "Mia… Hogwarts really is one of the safest places. Dumbledore is an amazing wizard. I was just… really unlucky. You're going to love it, I promise you."

Mia fidgeted restlessly, "What if you're wrong?"

"I'm not."

The eleven year old giggled nervously, "You don't know that."

"I do because I'm the oldest, and that means I'm always right."

Mia snorted and slapped his stomach, "Does _not."_

"It does. And you don't have to worry anyway, I'm going to make sure nothing happens to you. That's my job, right? Watch out for my pain-in-the-arse little sister? " Harry grinned and ruffled her flaming red mop of hair.

"And what about you?"

"It's not your job to worry about me, I'll be fine."

Mia let out a long breathe, "Well Mr. Immortal Man, I can smell your ego from here; are you going to have the first shower or what?"

"No, you go. You're getting grim Olly germs all over the bed sheets."

"My name's not Olly." Mia chided as she grabbed her towel from under the bed, whacked him on the head with it, and headed for the shower.

It wasn't a long one, she was too tired to bother getting her hair wet. But once she had turned the knob that stopped the water from running, she was surprised to hear a loud thumping noise coming from their room. _What on earth is that idiot doing?_ Not taking the time to get changed she hurried back to the room in only her towel.

"Harry what the hell!? You're going to get us in-" She paused when the door opened to reveal her panicked-looking brother and a houself whacking himself with a lamp. For a moment she was wondering what on earth had come over Zibby but cut the thought short when she caught a second glimpse of the creature. It wasn't the house elf she knew so well, this one had pointier ears and dirtier clothes. She was also quick to notice the bandages and cuts littered over the small elf. Orb-like, yellow eyes took in the new arrival of the younger Potter and it instantly stopped hitting himself.

"Harry Potter's sister, such an honour it is!" The elf bowed.

"Um, yeah, you too." Mia said, a little taken aback. Harry whacked his forehead in frustration as the elf let out a cry and ran to hug Mia's legs.

"Kind missus Potter! Dobby is hearing much of Mr Harry Potter but nothing of how nice he and his little Potter is." The elf wailed, sobbing into the threadbare towel Mia was securing tightly around herself.

"Erm, thanks… Dobby was it?" Mia said, slowly prying the hysterical elf from her. "What are you doing here?" She finally asked.

"I is here to warn Harry Potter not to go to- _mmf!_ "

Before the elf could finish Harry had lunged himself at him, covering his hand with his mouth.

"Harry!?" Mia cried, trying to remove her brother from poor, strguggling house elf, "What is it? What are you warning him of?"

Mia tackled Harry and the elf scrambled to escape, "Sister of Harry Potter, do _not_ let Harry Potter go to Hog -"

"Dobby! Get out!" Harry roared, apparently outraged.

The elf yelped and dodged Harry to run quickly out the door.

There was a second of relief; the creature was gone. Then, "Oh my god. The Dursleys!" The Potter siblings scrambled off the floor and flew down the stairs.

They found Dobby standing in the kitchen doorway, a devilish glint reflecting in his large eyes. He gave a quick surreptitious glance to the five-layered cake Aunt Petunia had spent the whole day perfecting, and then looked mischievously back to Harry and Mia who were frozen at the base of the stairs.

"Dobby is sorry, Dobby is doing what is best for Harry Potter." The elf apologised, lifting its hands and poising his fingers as if about to snap them.

Harry inched forward, "Wait, Dobby, no, please!" He hissed.

He wouldn't. He _couldn't._

Mia, taking a different approach to her brother, shot across the corridor and lunged at the elf. With a thud they crashed through the doorway and skidded painfully onto the perfectly cleaned, tiled floor of the kitchen. The moment they landed, Mia was instantly aware that it was probably not the most thought-out move of the century. With a horrified expression her head shot up to look at the kitchen table. All heads of the Dursley's and the Mason's were turned towards her and the elf.

 _Oh my God_. She had just exposed a magical creature to Muggle's! She was going to get expelled before she even got to Hogwarts. She was -

Before she even had a moment to finish the thought, she noticed that the creature had completely disappeared altogether.

"What on earth-!?" Uncle Vernon tried to contain himself from bellowing. His face had instantly turned an unbecoming deep purple, a shade Mia had long ago dubbed his ' _I'm going to kill you_ ' colour.

"Oh. I hadn't realised you had a daughter Petunia." The female Mason muttered.

"Niece." Aunt Petunia corrected sharply, "And she was just upstairs finishing some late homework, weren't you?" She asked pointedly, glaring daggers at the offending red head still splayed on the floor.

"Isn't it the summer holidays?" The Mason male queried.

"Yes but Olympia doesn't go to what we'd call a 'conventional' school." Aunt Petunia recovered, "Let's just say it's an institution for the more 'special needs'; they don't have normal holidays, and her homework is more of the potato-cutting and colouring-in sort, if you understand what I mean."

Mia bit back a scithing comment. _Thanks Aunt Petunia_.

" _Ah_." The Mason's both exclaimed, as if they had finally made sense of the world.

"Well, do have a good night my dear." The man spoke very loudly and slowly. _Seriously?_

"Yes, and good luck on your… potatoes." The woman wished in the same tone, smiling proudly as if she'd just been charitable enough to offer a home to an orphan.

The eleven year old chewed her lower lip, trying hard to keep a hating glare at Aunt Petunia at bay. Finally giving a curt nod she walked back through the doorway and toward her berating-looking brother.

"Shut up." She deadpanned before he could get a word in.

* * *

The Weasley's were incredible. Harry's wasn't lying when he had said they were the best family ever in his letters. Despite the fact that Mrs Weasley was somewhat strict (in an oppressively loving way of corse) the family dynamic was so fluid and structured, but in the most crazily dysfunctional and chaotic of ways. She had never seen anything like it.

Nowhere was safe with the twins in the house, anything could explode or turn your hair green with the lightest of touches or the smallest of bites. Oddly, it made Mia incredibly paranoid yet increasingly at home at the same time - she had no idea how that even worked.

Ron was not quite as quick witted as his twin brothers but funny all the same, and clearly very close friends with Harry - so on principal Mia liked him unconditionally until her brother didn't.

Percy was rarely seen - mostly spending his time in his room as he was a sixth year at Hogwarts and obviously had a lot of work to do - but from what she could gather from the mealtimes she did see him at, clearly very intelligent.

Ginny was shy and not a natural friend at first - not that Mia could say she herself wasn't shy. Their confrontations were a little stilted and awkward, but at least the youngest Weasley wasn't a bad person. It wasn't like Mia had many conversations with anyone that weren't a bit stilted and awkward anyway, so Ginny wasn't entirely to blame. Of corse, it didn't exactly help in the whole awkwardness department that she clearly had a huge 'celebrity crush' over Harry, and Mia wasn't exactly sure how to feel about it. But she tried her best to ignore it because Ginny was going to be in her year at Hogwarts and it wouldn't do any good to hold a grudge against anyone before they even started.

Even though Mia had had that little but definitive moment of accidental magic in the bathroom at her old school (that she still hadn't told Harry about), she was still overcome with relief when - after spending a couple of weeks at the Weasleys - her Hogwarts acceptance letter flew in with the rest of the letters.

It honestly surprised her when it appeared as though Ginny had been just as worried as she had been. Mia had watched as Mrs Weasley had hugged her only daughter tightly in the corner of the kitchen and whispered to her almost inaudibly to anyone who wasn't trying to hear, "See, I told you so."

Mia found herself feeling guilty for judging Ginny - even if it was subconsciously. She couldn't help but be jealous of the youngest Weasley; she had everything Mia never could. She stood for everything Mia had ever wanted to be but never would. But maybe they had more in common than she'd originally thought: they both had a lot to live up to.

That was the moment she started to find things a bit easier with Ginny - now that she knew she wasn't from a completely alien world and they actually might have more in common beyond their hair colour (and even then Mia was more of a deeper red then Ginny's ginger). It was still not that natural hanging out with her, but getting easier.

* * *

A couple days after the letters arrived was the second most exciting day Mia had been waiting for the whole year; the Diagonally trip.

Splitting off into small groups and promising to reband back at Flourish and Blotts, the two youngest redhead girls whizzed from shop to shop - having waited way too long to finally get to buy everything, Mrs Weasley struggled to keep up. After a quick stop at Gringotts, they went to Amanuensis Quills, the Apothecary, Madam Malkins, even quickly stopping to ogle at the latest and quickest broomstick showcased in the windows of Broomstix, though they were swiftly moved on by Mrs Weasley who reminded them that first years didn't get their own brooms (though if you asked Mia, she was pretty sure that the mother of six boys didn't want yet another quidditch player in the family susceptible to even more injuries). Last but _definitely_ not least was Ollivanders.

Ginny's wand was quick to find. Yew wood, ten and a quarter inches with a Unicorn tail hair. It took an age to find Mia's. Her feet were starting to ache from standing up too long and she could see Mrs Weasley fidgeting restlessly in the corner of the room, obviously they were late for the meeting point at Florish and Botts - though when asked she insisted it wasn't a problem.

Finally (and after she had managed to wreck half of the poor old man's shop) she ended with a nine inch and three quarter subtle, pliable Mahogany wood (good for transfiguration), mixed with a 'curious choice' of Dragon heartstring, though for the life of her she didn't understand what was curious about it. Mr Ollivander told her it was a rare combination and predicted an unusual and uncertain future for the youngest Potter.

With a quick but effective berating of the old man for scaring little children, Mrs Weasley ushered the two girls out of the wand shop and speedily rushed to meet the others.

They found the rest of the Weasley clan at the back of a large crowd of people. Apparently whatever had happened to draw such an amount of people in had ended, as everyone was slowly pouring out of the shop.

"Hey," Mia greeted one of the twins (she still didn't have a prayer at knowing which one was which), "have you seen Harry anywhere?"

"Sure have, probably will in the morning paper tomorrow too."

The twin pointed to the front of the shop. Mia couldn't see anything over the heads of the flowing crowd but she could see the telltale flashes of cameras. "What do you mean…? They're taking his picture?"

"Corse they are." The other twin commented, "With the blithering idiot that's written all our textbooks."

After Mia gave them a puzzled look, she jumped when they grabbed her from either side and lifted her high enough to look over the crowd. Stood in a baby-blue robe with one arm waving at the flashing cameras and the other signing a book for a sobbing witch, was a man that looked just as stupid as the boys had claimed. His cheesy grin and clear arrogance made her want to gag, though, she did hand to him the benefit of having good hair.

"Meet your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"Or in this case, Defense Against the Light-To-Medium-Grey Arts teacher."

"We'd wager the closest to facing anything 'Dark' he's seen is his bedroom at night with only the one nightlight on." One of them added as they both let her softly back to the floor.

"And an arrogant nitwit like that couldn't possibly have passed up an opportunity to get his name associated with the Boy-Who-Lived now could he? Right George?" Fred rolled his eyes.

 _Name associated with Harry...?_

"But don't you worry young little firstling -"

"We're going to cause him hell,"

"He won't last long."

"Poor Harry though, I wouldn't wish having to put up with Lockhart on anyone."

"Oh the woes of fame." Fred gushed dramatically.

"Mind you, I'm pretty sure mum wouldn't mind." George snickered as the two pointed to a practically swooning Mrs Weasley who was stood on the tips of her toes trying to catch a glimpse over the crowd. _Ohh, maybe being late wasn't the only reason she was getting twitchy to leave Ollivanders._

"You mean to say… well, I knew that some people might know his name and all, because of what Hagrid said about how our parents died. But you mean that Harry's… _famous_?" Mia floundered, "Like, _famous_ famous?"

" _Famous_ famous indeed." Fred nodded his head gravely.

"Internationally famous." George added.

"I'd wager he's as well known as Dumbledore,"

" - If not, more."

"And, I'm sorry to say, If I were you I'd start trying to get the hang of it -"

"There's a lot more of where Ginny came from,"

"- If you know what we mean." Fred smirked with a wink.

"Lucky sod." They both concluded simultaneously.

Mia didn't want to think about that, "Where is the prat anyway?"

Both twins craned their necks to find the missing Potter, "Oh he's over - oh no-"

"Malfoy alert." Fred warned,

" _Double_ Malfoy alert." George grumbled before barging through the crowd presumably in the direction of Harry, Fred grabbed hold of one of Mia's hands so she didn't get lost following.

Malfoy had been mentioned a couple times in Harry's letters, so she had an idea of what to expect when she approached the scene of Harry, Ginny, a bushy haired girl who she guessed was Hermione, and Ron standing next to Mr Weasley who was chatting with what must've been Draco's father

"Busy time at the Ministry Arthur?" They approached in time to hear the white-haired man say, "All those extra raids, I do hope they are paying you over time." He looked down to a scruffy, crumbling old book he'd pulled out from Ginny's cauldron, tracing it with his finger, "But judging by the state of this, I would say not. What's the use of being a disgrace to the name of Wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"

Mia's jaw hung slack and her eyes narrowed. _How_ could you say that about someone from the Weasley family? They were the most kind, selfless people Mia had met in her eleven years of life. The thoughtfulness they showed when they broke Harry and herself out of Number 4, the hospitality they gave when they opened up their home to two children of no relation, the friendship their children had offered without even a second thought. "Hey! How dare-"

Fred shot out a hand to touch her shoulder and with a quick shake of his head, cut her short. Her mouth ran away with her rage anyway, "Mr Weasley isn't such a small man as to drive his beliefs by something so petty as money." She ignored Harry's glare and the harsh stomp on her toes, continuing to look unwaveringly at the taller man "And in my experience, greed isn't a financial issue; it's a heart issue."

The man turned fully to level his stare at the short eleven year old. Mia stepped back instinctively, struggling to hold his gaze as harsh, cold, blue eyes bore into hers. "My, my," He drawled, "and who might _you_ be? Red hair, green eyes, and _quite_ the attitude. I feel as though I have met you somewhere. Or perhaps, you remind me of _someone_..." He paused dramatically. Then his face split into a grin and he barked a slow, chilling laugh, " _Oh_ , you must be the _other_ Potter spawn. I'd almost forgotten there was another. Forgive me; people often forget the detail of the younger Potter also present in the Nursery when telling the tale of that… _fateful_ night. I suppose, some may see you as a redundant feature in the story; you didn't play quite so big a role as your big, brave, brother in the defeat of the Dark Lord, did you? You have quite the load to live up to don't you Miss…" he trailed off, sizing Mia up and down, "Pardon me, though it is a rare occasion, I seem to have forgotten your name. Ophelia? Olivia?" The man smirked, "You know, you really are the mirror image of your mother." He added thoughtfully, then shrugged, "Well, before she was murdered I suppose." Mia bit back a remark, at both Lucius for being an arsehole and Fred for making the bruise on her arm from the tight grip he had. "Anyways, we best be off. It was a pleasure." He stared at them all individually before dropping Ginny's book back into her cauldron. Ushering Draco along like a little lap dog they started for the door, "Oh, and Miss Potter," He called, his head peering over his shoulder, "If you were smart, you might watch that sharp tongue of yours. Lord forbid it may get you into trouble someday."

Mia glared at him and as he twisted back to continue to the door, a movement from his robed sleeve caught her eye as his body turned. She peered over Ginny's shoulder to see an old book had dropped into her cauldron. "Wait Gin, he's just dropped this." Mia said as she plucked it out and hurried to follow out the direction the Malfoy pair had gone, skillfully avoiding Harry.

Between the dispersing crowd of people from Lockhart's speech and the current of busy shoppers on the highstreet, she lost sight of the bleached heads almost instantly. Shrugging, she shoved the small book unceremoniously into her own cauldron; she would give it to Malfoy when she saw him at school.

* * *

 **PLEAAASE REVIEW ILL LOVE YOU!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Please review! Enjoy X**

* * *

 **3**

King's Cross station was exceptionally busy on September 1st. Mia hadn't seen so many people in one place in all of her life. Mind you, the Dursley's had never taken her and Harry many places. It was overwhelming to say in the least, hundreds of commuters frantically rushing about, Hogwarts students all saying hi to classmates. It wasn't helping much that she had a full belly of nerves to top it off. How no muggles thought something was a bit weird seeing so many children with old trunks and owl cages was a mystery to her. Maybe there was some sort of bewitchment on the station for the day.

"Excited?" Harry asked a hand on her shoulder.

Her face split into a wide grin, "You know it."

"No time for this." Mrs Weasley suddenly appeared red in the face, gesturing for them to move quickly, "Chop, chop, we're late. No use in getting this far and not even making it to your first year. The train's leaving in five minu- Fred!" She screeched, "Put your sister _down_."

"I'm not Fred, he's -"

" _Don't_ even start." Mrs Weasley warned scarily. "Come on now, quickly," She commanded when they neared the brick pillar that would apparently take them to the platform. Mia eyed it wearily, it sure did look pretty solid. "George, Fred, you go first. Get straight on the train, no time for waiting around."

Wisely deciding it wasn't worth saying anything back, the twins quickly ran straight into the wall and - _vanished!_ Mia blinked.

"Come on Ginny darling, your turn. Quick, quick."

Ginny smiled and followed her brothers smoothly. "You next Olympia darling, don't hesitate, just run straight at it." She instructed, taking the time to look at her in the eye and smile warmly, "You won't feel a thing."

Mia nodded and gulped her nerves down. Trying not to think too much about it, she grabbed her trolley and ran speedily at the pilar.

 _Whoa_.

Hogwarts express was _stunning._ A dense cloud of steam rose out of it's red chimney, glazing the platform in a hazy mist. She could make out the silhouettes of parents waving byes to their children under the huge sign that read _Platform 9 ¾._

"Mia, move away from the wall, the others are going to come through." Ginny warned.

Mia shook out of her daze and jumped out of the way just in time for Mrs and Mr Weasley to hurry through.

"Come on girls, on the train." Mrs Weasley insisted, "Your brothers will meet you there, you're going to have to run now. One minute."

She quickly grabbed Ginny in a fierce hug, "Have fun. Be safe. Make sure your brothers don't do anything stupid." She said before kissing her on top of the head and shooing her away.

Mia wasn't expecting her then to turn around and pull her into the same crushing embrace. "I want letters, lots. Or you _will_ be receiving howlers." She said sternly, "Have fun my love, and good luck." She added before kissing Mia on the head and pushing her in the direction of Ginny.

Utterly stunned from the motherly affection, Mia said nothing in return before dazedly making her way over to Ginny, trying to keep her mouth from hanging. As they started running to the train Mia couldn't fight the splitting grin on her face, or the warm sensation brewing steadily inside of her stomach.

* * *

Harry never showed up. She tried to not worry too much, he was probably just bumping into people, in a compartment with Ron and Hermione and all of his other friends. Another part of her mind kept telling her that Harry wouldn't do that, he knew how nervous she was. He'd been driving her crazy all day following her around as though they were attached at the hip, making sure she was okay. Harry had always been overprotective.

Ginny assured her they were just busy catching up with classmates, but Mia wasn't as sure.

As the hours wore on with no sign of her brother, she was trying to not let her worry consume her. She had to forcefully pull her attention back to the conversation with her year mates. Ginny had found them a cabin with a girl named Luna and a boy called Colin.

Luna was unlike anyone she'd ever met in her entire life. Mia didn't even know how to begin to describe the girl. She was perhaps the definition of 'quirky', with long blonde hair and striking, soulful blue eyes. The way she spoke was dreamy and soft in a way that seemed to suck you into a trance. Something about her made Mia feel like the girl was never quite in the room with them, rather she was thinking of something completely different. Mia already knew she was going to like her; there was nothing fake about the girl at all. What you saw was what you got.

"So do you think we'll get to see him?" Colin suddenly asked.

Ginny looked up from the book she was reading. "Who?"

"Harry Potter of corse!" He drawled like it was the most obvious thing. "I heard he's in the year above us, can you believe it!? _Harry Potter,_ in the same school as _us_! Do you think we'll get to meet him?" He gushed, his eyes widening.

Mia let out an awkward cough. Ginny peered at her through the corner of her eye.

As the silence drew out, Colin continued, "What?" He asked, confused at the lack of enthusiasm, "It's _Harry Potter_ , how are you not excited?"

"Um, Colin," Ginny started, "Mia's full name is Olympia." She paused, waiting for him to connect the dots, Colin just looked confused, "... Olympia Potter."

Colin frowned and turned to Mia, "What, you're…" He trailed off, confused. "What do you mean?

"She's his sister." Luna supplied, not looking up from her book she was reading sideways.

Colin's eyebrows shot up, "Sister?! I didn't know he had a sister!" He screeched.

"You should speak quieter," Luna spoke softly, "the wrackspurts are getting angry.'

"How did I not know he has a sister?" He berated himself, ignoring Luna and shuffling to eagerly lean closer to Mia, "What's it like?" He questioned, a fat grin plastered over his face.

"... What's what like?" She asked, growing highly uncomfortable.

"Go on! Tell us. What's it like having the _Boy-Who-Lived_ as your brother?" He questioned keenly.

"Colin," Ginny hissed, Colin either didn't hear or ignored her.

"Go on." He pushed.

Mia shuffled awkwardly, "I don't know… he's just my brother."

"He's not just _any_ brother!" Colin insisted, "Gosh what I wouldn't give to have him as my brother. You're _so_ lucky. Do you think you could introduce me?"

Mia was at a loss for words. Harry was just… _Harry_.

Colin looked like christmas had come early, "Were you there, when… you know." He inquired encouragingly.

"...When Harry killed Voldemort?" At Colin's nod she conceded, "Yeah, I was in the nursery with him, or so I'm told."

"Whoa!" Colin enthused, his eyes bugging out from his head, "Do you remember what he looked like? You-Know-Who, that is."

"Colin, she was a couple days old. Of corse she doesn't remember." Ginny reminded irritably.

Colin seemed to pay no mind to her tone of voice. "What's he like, Harry Potter, you know... _in person_?"

Mia shrugged, "Short and annoying."

Colin barked out laughter and fell back into his seat, "That's a good one, hah! But what's he really like?"

"Colin, he's just a normal person." Ginny insisted, shooting Mia an apologetic look.

Colin appeared as though he was about to argue, Mia shot in first, "So, what houses do you guys want to be in?"

Colin looked like he wasn't ready to drop the subject, but Ginny gladly helped out the floundering Potter, "Well I don't think I have much of a choice in the matter, my whole family's been in Gryffindor for generations. What about you Colin?" She asked.

Colin frowned but then eagerly jumped into debating the pro's and con's of each house. Mia couldn't help but take a relieved breath when the subject changed. She was never going to get used to this.

The first glimpse of the famous castle took Mia's breathe away. Not even Harry's letters from last year could do the building justice. It was _beautiful_.

 _I'm going to school in a castle_. _A legitimate_ castle.

The orange, warm light that glowed from the many windows lit up the lake they were sailing across, shimmering in a liquid gold as the boat cut through the perfectly still water.

They were taken to a cave in the cliff where an old witch was waiting, dressed in royal, emerald robes and a particularly pointy hat. All she needed was a black cat and a broomstick and she'd have been the most stereotypical muggle depiction of a 'witch'.

"Now this 'ere is Professor Mcgonagall, she'll be takin' yeh to yer sortin'." Hagrid announced, ushering all the first years to follow.

Mcgonagall lead the year group into the castle and down too many corridors and stairs for Mia to even begin counting. How they were ever meant to navigate the castle on their own was a mystery to her - it was _huge!_

Mcgonagall was giving them a talk on what to expect from Hogwarts and a brief description on all the houses, but Mia couldn't even begin to try and pay attention, her mind was jumping about with different thought's in her excitement. Nothing that the Professor said hadn't already been mentioned in the _Hogwarts: A History_ copy she'd read twice back at Privet Drive anyway, so she hoped it didn't matter.

Finally they came to a halt outside an enormous set of thick oak doors with round iron knockers the size of her head.

"Soon you will pass through these doors and join your classmates, but before you can take your seats you must be sorted into your houses." She announced sternly. "While you are hear your house will be like your family. You'll eat with them, work with them, and share a dormitory with them for the next seven years you are here with us."

She then rattled on about house point's or something like it that Mia was too nervous, or excited, to listen to.

At last the doors were magically swung open and they were allowed into the Great Hall.

The first years slowly made their way down the middle aisle to the front of the hall. Mia was acutely aware of the entire school watching them. Her excitement had fully transformed to a painful nervousness. She only briefly took in the sky-like ceiling she'd read about that, tonight, was clear and starry, and the amazing stained window towering behind the teacher table. Her eyes were avidly scanning the Gryffindor table, looking for the familiar unruly mop of black hair. He wasn't there. She could even see Hermione. But no sign of Harry and Ron. _Where on earth were they_?

She tried to assure herself that they were fine, they probably were just late, talking to a teacher, or busy doing something else. _Harry wouldn't miss this though_. She quashed the selfish but knowing thought.

"Atherstone, Ava" Mcgonagall's booming voice jumped Mia out of her daze, she'd missed Dumbledore's speech.

" _HUFFLEPUFF!"_

"Creevey, Colin."

Colin walked shyly up to the wooden stall in front of the school.

" _GRYFFINDOR!"_ The hat bellowed. Colin punched the air and then made his way over to the screaming and clapping Gryffindor table. _I hope I'm there_. She wanted to be welcomed like that.

Vladimir Dragov was sorted Slytherin. Logan Fox became a Gryffindor. Zachary Goode, a strong boned, dark-haired boy, was a Slytherin. Gwenith Galbraith a Hufflepuff. Luna ended as a Ravenclaw, Mia clapped extra hard for her. Allura Legrande - the most beautiful girl Mia had ever seen - was a Gryffindor. Marlene Mclaren and Delilah Montagu, Ravenclaw. Morag Mckinnon, Slytherin. Darien Noire, Slytherin. Scarlett Oreilly, Gryffindor and…

"Potter, Olympia."

Forcing her feet to move and ignoring the quiet murmurs coming from the students, she walked up to the podium facing the whole school. Her breath caught when her foot tripped on the last step and she pitched forward. Mcgonagall was quick to steady her before she fell flat on her face. Mia's face went crimson with embarrassment.

"On the stool, dear." McGonagall ushered when the eleven year old froze.

Mia nodded and walked over, having to awkwardly hop onto it. Why didn't they give smaller stalls for first years to sit on? The last thing she saw before the hat covered her eyes was the Gryffindor table. Harry was nowhere to be seen.

 _Ah._

Mia jumped when a voice rang in her head.

 _Another Potter, eh? You have a lot to show for yourself Ms Olympia, a tremendous thirst to prove yourself… A great idolisation of your brother -_

 _No I don't!_ Mia thought harshly.

 _You are ambitious, very much so_. The hat ignored her swiftly _. And brave, more so then you might believe. Your future will be interesting, very curious indeed. You obviously have qualities of loyalty, no doubt about it, but Hufflepuff is not the place for you. Above all, your faith and devotion to your beliefs is very strong. You will go far Ms Potter, if you work hard and put the effort in. And that's why I'll put you in…_

" _RAVENCLAW."_

 _No!_ She thought as the hat was lifted. _No, no, no!_

The Ravenclaw table was just about to applaud when the doors to the Grand Hall swung open with a bang. The school turned as one to look at the commotion, the sorting forgotten.

She was stunned when she saw her brother and Ron be shoved through the doorway by a tall, dark haired teacher who looked furious.

"Come on, off you go Potter." Mcgonagall nudged the startled girl quietly.

Mia walked and sat silently at the Ravenclaw table to no applause.

* * *

"Olly!"

Stood under the entrance to the Great Hall, Mia turned to the Gryffindor table to see Harry getting up from his bench and hurry towards her.

"It's not Olly."

" _Mia_. I'm so sorry! I tried to find you last night after the sorting but you'd already gone." He apologised, pulling her into a hug, "I can't believe I missed it, I'm so sorry Ol."

"It's alright," She shrugged, trying to smile.

" _No_ , it's not alright."

"I missed yours." She argued.

Harry glared at her, "That's different and you know it." He ran a hand through his hair anxiously, "You have no idea how crazy the day we had yesterday was."

Mia laughed, "How much trouble did you get into?"

"A lot." He grinned mischievously, "Come on, I'll eat breakfast with you."

Mia looked over at the Gryffindor table, didn't he have to sit with them? "... Is that wise?"

"Of corse it is, you're my sister." He claimed, draping an arm over her shoulders and guiding them over to the Ravenclaw table. "Congratulations on getting into Ravenclaw by the way, you nerd. I'd wager it's almost as awesome as Gryffindor." He grinned cheekily.

Mia shoved his arm off her shoulders and smirked, "Only someone in Ravenclaw is intelligent enough to realise the contrary." She retorted, "Or maybe if you rub your braincell with another Gryffindor's hard enough you may come to the same conclusion some day."

Harry's reply was a familiar ruffle to her hair, she instantly swatted his hand away.

Mia knew that Harry knew she wanted badly to be in Gryffindor, she appreciated what he was trying to do.

She lead him to the section of the table with all the first year Ravenclaw's and sat down opposite to Luna.

"This is Luna," She introduced, indicating the mysterious blonde, "I sat with her on the train."

"Hello Harry Potter." She said dreamily, inspecting her scrambled egg through some sort of coloured magnifying glass.

"Over there's Marlene and Delilah who are in our dorm," Mia pointed to the two girls who were avidly discussing the hottest member of the Weird Sisters (a Wizarding band which deceptively actually had eight male members, which was explained to her in depth the night before) and hadn't noticed the Potter's sit down.

"So what was your crazy story?" She asked, grabbing food to put on her plate.

"Ah, s'not important." He predictably brushed aside, "Just something stupid me and Ron got ourselves into."

" _How_ stupid?" Mia asked warningly.

"...Not very." He supplied cautiously, taking a bite out of a bagel.

Mia shot him a suspicious look but before she could question further Luna piped up smoothly, "I believe stupid is underrated." not looking away from her magnifying glass.

The Potter's turned to her, "How so?" Harry asked.

"Stupidity would make life much easier would it not?" She asked, her blue eyes lifting to look at them pensively, "I think so many thoughts I often forget where I am."

Mia blinked at the unexpected bit of wisdom.

"Maybe you should try writing some of them down," Harry suggested, looking at the girl curiously, "then you won't have to keep it in your head so much."

"Hmm," Luna hummed, looking back down at her eggs, "That's a good thought."

"Here," Mia grabbed her bag from off the floor and rummaged through the clutter she'd already accumulated, "I have a spare notebook, you can have it if you want." She offered, revealing a small black, empty book. It was the one Lucius Malfoy dropped in Ginny's cauldron, she was originally going to give it back but if it helped Luna she didn't mind giving it to her, the git didn't deserve it anyway.

"That's very kind of you." Luna smiled, taking the book from Mia's outstretched hand, "It's very beautiful." She noted, stroking the front of its binding. "Infested by Fobsapsa Sprites, but beautiful." She smiled and then put the book in her own bag.

"What are Fob-" Harry's words were cut short with a harsh but efficient stomp on his foot. Harry spun towards his sister in protest, Mia shook her head slightly; she had made the mistake of asking about the weird creature's Luna see's the night before, she wouldn't wish on anyone to make the same mistake again. Still pissed off, Harry stomped on her own foot in spite but thankfully complied to Mia's hint and dropped the subject.

Mia gasped, "Prat." She muttered.

"Twerp."

* * *

The next few days past with little drama. Luna had become her closest friend so far, she had seen Ginny a little in classes but she was busy making friends with the other Gryffindor girls. It looked like she along with Scarlett Oreilly and Allura Legrande were becoming somewhat of a trio of majestic Goddesses. Scarlett was a well built, olive skinned brunette who, even at the tender age of eleven was clearly going to be drop-dead gorgeous, but even she couldn't hold a light to Allura Legrande. Allura was a tall, blonde girl from Paris with backgrounds in the aristocratic French bourgeoisie and, to add to perfection, her great grandmother was a fully blooded Veela so, naturally, she had all the boys grovelling at her feet when she so much as blew her nose.

Delilah Montagu and Marlene Mclaren - the other first year Ravenclaw girls - had become a fast duo, having known each other since they were toddlers. They were also pretty and to top it they were annoyingly intelligent. They talked about things like wizarding celebrities and gossip that Mia had no idea even existed, or books they had read together, which evidently meant Mia had very little to offer in conversation.

Even though the whole friend-making thing wasn't going as well as she would have liked, she'd enjoyed her first days nonetheless. Harry had properly introduced her to Hermione and all of his other Gryffindor friends. He had _loads!_ She hoped she'd have as many friends by second year. She was also assured by the fact that Harry was still including her. Not that he'd ever tell him but one of her biggest fears about her coming to Hogwart's was him avoiding her.

The lesson's were, of corse, another big highlight. She'd always enjoyed learning, back at her muggle school she'd always had to pretend to be worse at her subjects then she was so not to beat Dudley's scores from the year before. She couldn't wait to try and actually be good at subjects. Especially when the subjects weren't nearly as boring or mundane as Maths or Geography.

She already had an advantage with Charm's, History of Magic, and Transfiguration, as she'd read the books Harry had given her for christmas over and over.

Her first History of magic lesson was interesting - especially since Zibby had already explained to her about the Goblin Rebellions - but Professor Binn's was easily the most uninspiring person she'd ever met, she'd have to do lots of self-driven study on the subject. Charm's was an amazing subject, and as far as she could tell, Flitwick was an excellent teacher. But Transfiguration was by far her favourite. She'd almost jumped in excitement when she watched Professor Mcgonagall transform into and out of the form of a cat, itching to learn all she could about the subject.

Mia had been the first in her class to turn a matchstick into a needle, it had only taken a couple minutes. Although she was closely followed by Charles Wiseman and Marlene Mclaren, also in Ravenclaw.

By Friday she and the rest of the first years had been given so much work she was wondering how on earth they were going to find the time to do it.

Walking to the dungeons with the rest of the first year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws for their first ever potions lesson, she sat with Luna and Ava Atherstone (hufflepuff) at a middle worktop.

The potions lab was awfully fumey, billows of dust and smoke floated visibly around the only small streams of sunlight the few small windows allowed. It stunk of old books and burnt chicken which, oddly, she found weirdly pleasant. It was a damp, refreshing temperature that came naturally with its underground status, she quite liked it.

All the first years were startled when the heavy door crashed open with a bang, a tall, dark man swooped in, his black capes billowing dramatically behind him. He came to a sharp halt at the front of the classroom and spun exaggeratedly to face his new class of first years.

"There will be no foolish wand waving or silly incantations in this class." The man bellowed effectively. "I am Professor Snape, " _Oh,_ he's _the infamous Snape_. Harry had warned Mia more than once about this teacher. Mia's heart sunk; what she was expecting to be quite an interesting subject was going to be ruined by this man who apparently held a grudge against all Potters for no known reason. "And I hold the responsibility of attempting to teach you the subtle science and exact art that is potion making."

He continued lecturing about ensnaring minds and bewitching senses or something of the sort. Mia found herself not really listening but rather studying her new potions Professor. He looked young. Well, younger than most of the teachers here in Hogwarts. She knew that Hogwarts only hired seasoned and highly qualified professionals from _Hogwarts: A History_. So he must be quite impressive at the subject if he was hired as a teacher at such an early age.

He was certainly strict and intimidating. Though, Mia was sure that the professor was purposefully trying to be as intimidating as possible. What is supposed to be a teaching tactic? Or an authoritative tactic? She guessed probably the latter, there was no doubt in the effectiveness of the terrifying attitude he was exuding, the class was so silent you could hear Gwenith Galbraith's heavy breathing from across the room (poor girl couldn't breathe through her nose). _Definitely a Slytherin then_ she concluded, only a Slytherin would commit that far into a character to produce such a position of power.

She knew that the man would have to be trusted by Dumbledore to be accepted as the schools Potions master. But why, or where, would Dumbledore find such trust in a man that was so… well, _Snape-_ like, she didn't know. He didn't exactly give off the trustworthy vibe instantaneously.

"Ms Atherstone."

Next to her Ava affirmed her presence in a high-pitched squeak. "Mr Chan."

"Um," A quiet voice piped, "It's pronounced Ch- _han_ , Sir."

"Shut up Kevin," A Hufflepuff quietly muttered, digging an elbow into the ribs of an asian-looking Ravenclaw who Mia assumed was Kevin.

"Indeed. Shut up _Kevin_." Snape drawled slowly, popping the 'p'.

With a death stare at Kevin bone-chilling enough to make any normal first year piss themselves, Snape rattled through the attendance list fiercely.

"Ms Potter,"

When Mia didn't respond, looking dazedly out of the skylight, Luna touched her hand lightly and whispered, "That's you."

"Ms Potter!" Snape asked again impatiently.

Mia raised a hesitant hand, "Yes, sir."

Snape's head whipped around to her and he did a violent double take. His eyes widened as they landed on her and his mouth parted a little. He stared at her with such an intensity it made Mia want to squirm. It wasn't the same berating glare he'd given Kevin only minutes ago, but a glare that seemed somehow softer, but more intense all the same. A glare quite unlike one Mia would expect from someone like Professor Snape.

Seconds past before Snape seemed to snap out of whatever trance he'd been in, he quickly looked down to his clipboard and harshly ticked her name off.

* * *

 **Please leave a review! You'll make me very happy.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Enjoy!**

* * *

 **4**

"What do you mean he doesn't hate you?" Harry questioned, apparently irritated. "That doesn't make any sense; the only reason he hates me is because I'm a Potter. And you're one too, he _should_ hate you." He reasoned sourly, as if upset the Potions Professor didn't hate his sister.

"She's not a Gryffindor." Hermione noted, as they all walked leisurely to their next lessons of the day.

"Im telling you, it was so strange. After we did roll call he wouldn't look at me the whole lesson, he avoided me completely." Mia insisted, idly biting into an apple she'd saved from lunch, "Even when I asked for advice on my Forgetfullness potion, he came over and helped me but didn't bother looking at me once."

"That is odd." Hermione agreed, "Not even one insult? I don't think he even treats his Slytherin's like that."

"That greasy gits up to something." Ron cemented, looking solemn.

"I don't know. When he looked at me he didn't look angry or disapproving or anything, he looked…" What was that stare? It was some sort of deep emotion, almost somber, but not exactly, something more. She had no clue how to describe it.

"Trust us Mia, the bat's no good." Ron insisted. "Don't fall into any false sense of security."

Mia peered at Harry, he looked confused but in apparent agreeance with Ron, habitually tugging at the black stone around his neck she'd given him the year before.

Hermione looked thoughtful, "Ron's probably right, don't get too used to it. Maybe he was just having an off day."

"Yeah maybe…"

"Anyway, we're off Charms bound, we'll see you and Luna at dinner, right?" Harry promised when they reached a crossing in their path.

"Right." Luna conceded and Mia bobbed her head affirmatively.

The Gryffindor trio went right while the Ravenclaw's split left.

"He is a rather thoughtful character, isn't he?" Luna pondered as they walked through the quiet halls, the golden afternoon sun pathing their way to their final class of the day.

"Who? Snape?" Mia questioned.

"No, your brother of corse." The blonde corrected, staring out of the arched stoned windows at the sunset.

Mia scoffed good-naturedly, "Harry's about as thoughtful as Professor Lockhart's books make me."

Luna only smiled knowingly, "You are lucky to have a brother like him." She commented, "And he is lucky to have a sister like you. He care's about you a lot you know. I can see it."

 _Yeah, I know._

"Of corse, it would be more obvious if it weren't for all the Wollysikrats clouding his brain."

Mia chuckled, smiling at her only friend, "Yeah I guess so."

Reaching the foot of the steps, the pair braced themselves for the tedious and calf-burning task of climbing up the many sets of stairs to the transfiguration classroom.

"So the rumours are true." A smooth voice announced clearly.

The two Ravenclaws spun to face the corridor that lead off to the right of them. The orange haze from the setting sun outlined a dark silhouette of a boy sat perched up in one of the castle's stone windows. The effect was mysterious in an annoyingly cliche kind of way, Mia thought.

"You're Harry Potter's sister."

The figure dropped sleekly from the ledge he'd been lounging on, his movements perfectly fluid. How he even got up there in the first place Mia had no clue.

She could see him properly now, he was the dark haired boy in her year who was first to be sorted into Slytherin. What was his name again?

"Well I hope so," She admitted, "I'm wearing her underwear."

Mia knew how Harry felt about anything Slytherin but she wasn't immediately going to be rude to someone solely because of their house.

The Slytherin boy smirked slightly and looked at her with a glint in his eye, "In that case, I hope so too."

As the boy moved from out of the shadows, she was allowed a better look. The Slytherin had dark brown hair and just as equally dark eyes, unlike most eleven year olds he already had rather broad shoulders and strong facial features. He was tall for his age but not remarkably so. His face proved difficult to read, which was unusual for Mia as she was a rather empathetic character; generally having a knack for knowing what people were thinking.

The boy flashed his eyes to the other blonde Ravenclaw, taking in her bizarre attire. Everything from the tattered pink converse (which Mia was pretty sure wasn't in the dresscode) to the radish earrings. Mia could tell he was about to ask her name when his curious gaze finally landed on her head, "Why do you wear that thing on your head?"

Mia had been thinking the same thing for quite sometime now. Luna had chosen to wear a sort of headband sprouting two wires that reached upwards, ending with what looked like coloured pom-pom's on top.

"Because if I wear it any place else it chafes." Luna explained simply.

Mia couldn't tell whether the boy looked amused or not, nor did she find out what his response would be as four figures rounded the corner at the end of the hall.

"Oi, Goode! we've been looking for you ev-" The voice Mia recognised all too well as Draco Malfoy's, cut himself short. His lips split into a devilish grin, spying the two Ravenclaw's with the boy who she now remembered as Zachary Goode, "Ah. I see you've met the other Potter and the resident Lunatic." _Here we go_. "I have to say," The blonde drawled with what he no doubt believed to be an aristocratic tone, "I wasn't expecting a Potter in Ravenclaw. I didn't figure your mother would have had enough brains to pass on. A Mudblood, wasn't she?"

The three boys behind him - one tall, one fat, and another she recognised as a fellow first year, Darien Noire - all grinned wickedly. She didn't know what a mudblood meant but judging by their reactions, she didn't colour it a compliment.

"And I have to say," Mia began thoughtfully, not allowing indication of the nerves she was feeling, "I wasn't expecting you to have more than one friend. I figured what little dignity your father might have had he wouldn't be able to pass on when he lost it conceiving you. A bigoted, sanctimonious arsehole, isn't he?"

She don't know why she did it. It was five Slytherins (three of them being the year above) against two Ravenclaws. Harry had always berated her for letting her mouth run away with her when she got angry (and she had always pointed out he was hardly one to talk), it had a nasty habit of getting them both into tricky situations.

Predictably, Draco's face instantly scrunched up in anger and he had his wand whipped out and pointed at her in a second, quickly followed by the three lackeys behind him.

"You'll pay for that _Potter_." He spat menacingly.

Mia already had her wand drawn and aimed at him, trying to not let her nerves make her hold quivver. What good it would do her was naught, unless she could somehow incapacitate Draco by turning a matchstick into a needle, that being the extent of her knowledge in wand magic.

Zach was still leant against the wall, only slightly tense from the abrupt escalation of events. His wand was wrapped tightly in his hand but, instead of being raised and pointed, remained hanging down by his side. His dark eyes were roaming around calculatingly, analysing the scene. His face was hard to read but his eyes were glistened darkly and his mouth was slightly quirked at one end, if she didn't know any better Mia would have thought he was slightly amused.

Luna still had her wand in her pocket, apparently only mildly concerned with the whole thing.

"What are you going to do with that?" Darien Noire taunted, glancing at her wand, his eyes aglow with sadistic amusement, "Throw it at us?"

Mia narrowed her eyes, he did have a point, "And what are you going to do with yours exactly?" She asked her fellow first year, "Wave it around threateningly while you hide from two defenseless first years behind three older boys. There's no doubt you weren't made for Gryffindor, you coward."

Darien's face darkened and he grinned maliciously, "You underestimate me, you foolish girl."

In a flash, Darien whipped his wand in a harsh stroke and spat, " _Diffindo!_ " A curse Mia instantly recognised as the cutting curse taught to second years.

His aim was off kilt and the beam of light was directed more towards Luna.

Mia only had a moment to shove the blonde out of the way when the spell made impact. Striking where Luna's hip would have been, the curse hit her bag, sending paper and books flying in all directions.

Darien lifted his wand hand once more, offended that his aim was less than perfect. Before he could utter more words, Draco raised a hand to stop him.

"Not now." He muttered, then looked over his shoulder at the other second years, "Crab, Goyle. We're late." He announced, then looked pointedly at Darien, and finally over at Zach, "We'll see you at dinner."

With that Crab, Goyle, Darien and Draco turned and left, but not before Darien stomped and spat on one of the many books that were now scattered in the corridor.

Once they were out of sight, Mia turned to look at Zach, only to find that he too had gone.

"Luna, I'm so sorry." Mia faced her only friend, "I shouldn't have said anything, that was so stupid of me."

"That's quite alright." The blonde assured, her gaze dropping. "You're hurt."

Grabbing hold of one of Mia's hands she lifted it up to show the blood on her palm that was dripping to the floor. The redhead hadn't even noticed the pain until then.

"It's just a cut." She asserted, "They're right though, we're going to be late. I'll deal with it later. Let's just clean this up and go to class, McGonagall's going to be mad if we take much more time."

Agreeing, Luna quickly helped her round up all the books and paper before the two legged it up the stairs to their last class of the day.

* * *

The next day, the first saturday of the school year, the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff girls had all gathered to sit at one end of the Ravenclaw table for breakfast. Ginny was sat with the other Gryffindors, Allura and Scarlett, but made an effort to smile lots at Mia and engage her in conversation, which the Ravenclaw appreciated.

Luna was silent, contently reading the latest _Quibbler_ that had been owled to her that morning. Marlene and Delilah were predictably whispering conspiratorially and giggling at their in jokes and gossip.

Mia decided that she actually liked Allura. She expected the elegant French girl to be like Scarlett; conceited, snobby and superficial. Yet Mia noted the fact that she didn't seem to care who she was talking to merely in order to seem cool. At that moment she was immersed deeply in conversation with the shy Hufflepuff, Gwenith Galbraith, debating the perks of different fertilizers on mandrake plants as opposed to the more commonly used ones.

She had watched Scarlett become irritated that Allura was not giving her attention and had swiftly swivelled in her seat to face Mia. Her expression was quickly lifted into a sickly sweet smile and her tone rose an octave higher as she talked to the Ravenclaw. It was clear to Mia that the girl clearly wanted her to like her.

Her heart plummeted, although it didn't come as much of a surprise to the redhead when the conversation quickly turned to the subject of Harry. Was she close to him? What was he like? It's like, _so_ cute that he's so protective of her. Did she remember anything about _that night_. Maybe they could hang out together sometime

Mia was groaning internally when she agreed in a just as falsely sweet voice that yes, of corse they could hang out sometime, that would be like _so_ nice.

The younger Potter was only too happy when the conversation was interrupted with a nudge from Marlene sitting next to her.

She and Delilah were smirking at Mia and glancing over at the Slytherin table, "Did you know that Darien Noire has been staring at you for like, the last ten minutes." Marlene whispered in a suggestive tone.

"Really?" Mia asked, quickly peeking at the Slytherin table to confirm that, yes, he was staring at her. "Trust me. It's not a good thing." She assured, trying to rid them of their smirks.

Delilah gushed, "I wish he'd stare at me." She grinned cheekily.

"Really, why?" Ginny asked, slightly disgusted, "He's _horrible._ He pushed Ava into a wall the other day."

"Yeah," Ava confirmed, "And he put something in Gwenith's cauldron in our first potions lesson to make it explode. Hufflepuff lost twenty points."

"Yeah I know," Marlene dismissed, "I'm not saying I'd _date_ him or anything, but you can't deny that he is _really_ hot."

Mia raised a brow. Now she thought about it, maybe the brunette Slytherin was good looking. Though his repulsive personality completely negated anything he had going for him in the looks department.

"But," Ginny leaned in conspiratorially and whispered. "he's from one of _those_ families. A really dark one. I heard his parents were Death Eaters in the last war."

"Yeah, but doesn't that add to the whole _bad boy_ thing a bit?" Delilah added lewdly.

Marlene gasped but was still smiling, "Delilah! You can't say things like that, Death Eater _killed people_."

Delilah only smiled knowingly at her best friend, "Yeah, but you know it's true."

Marlene smirked in confirmation and the two girls giggled.

"Yeah I guess he is hot," Scarlett debated, wanting to join in the conversation, "But his brother's hotter."

"That's true." Marlene and Delilah both nodded seriously.

"Who's his brother?" Mia questioned, biting absently into a bagel.

"Well, his _adoptive_ brother." The brunette Gryffindor amended, "Both he and Zach Goode were adopted by the Goode family when the war ended."

Ava nodded, "My mum said that Darien's parents went to Azkaban because they were followers of You-Know-Who and that's why he lives with the Goode's."

"Is that what happened to Zach's parents?" Ginny queried.

The raven-haired Hufflepuff shrugged, "I don't know. I assume so. Either way, the Goode family is no lighter than the Noire family, if you get what I'm saying."

There was a beat of silence in the conversation as everyone ate some of their food. It was curious, Mia pondered, that Zach chose to change his last name when Darien didn't. They would have been young when they were adopted, was the decision made for them? In that case it seemed odd to her that they only had one baby's name changed and not the other.

"Ladies." A shrill voice rang from behind them, the first years all looked up to see Professor McGonagall looming over them with a pile of parchment in her hand, "I am here to inform you that I shall be absent from your next lesson. In that time I wish for you to complete these tasks," She said, and with a wave of her wand a piece of parchment each neatly flew from the pile in her hand to land in front of each girl. "And also to go over your last assignments, amend them to the best of your ability and hand them in to me in our next lesson." She added, waving her wand once again to return marked homework to their respective owners. "Have a nice day girls."

The girls all muttered vague pleasantries in response as they all scanned over their first marked homework of the year.

"What did you get?" Marlene asked openly.

"I got a Poor." Delilah sighed disappointedly, stabbing childishly into a piece of bacon.

"I too got a P." Allura elegantly placed the piece of parchment on the table, her words dripping in a heavy French accent.

"That's better than me," Mia smiled grimly, "I got a Dreadful."

Ava frowned, "It's okay, all the teachers have been telling us that we'd do badly at the beginning." She reminded, "Later in the year, and when our technique improves, we'll all be doing great."

* * *

As the weeks went by, it was true; everyone's grades did slowly start to get better. Everyone's but Mia's.

It was always Dreadful, sometimes Troll, and at best Poor. Not once did she get a pass mark on any of her written assignments. She didn't know what she was doing wrong! Her practical work was alright, no worse than the majority of the students. She'd even go as far as to say that she was the best at Transfiguration in her year. The only class she wasn't at least average at was Defense Against the Dark Arts. She didn't know if that was because the quality of teaching was dismal, or if it was just because she didn't have a knack for it.

She hadn't told Harry how bad she was at it yet. She knew she wouldn't be able to stand the look on his face. Her older brother loved Defense, and he was amazing at it. It broke her a little that she couldn't enjoy it to the same lengths as he did.

Her grades were making her even more of an outcast than she already was within her house. Ravenclaw was so academically competitive their hierarchy consisted of the people that had the best marks. As the months progressed and all the first year Ravenclaw's continued to compare marks with each other, she was slowly getting shunned away from them. The little friendship she may have forged with Marlene and Delilah had deteriorated rapidly when they started to look at her like some freak of nature. It got to a state where Mia was getting overly anxious to the point of getting dizzy when she received a piece of marked work back. What had the sorting hat been thinking?! She didn't belong in Ravenclaw. But then where did she belong? Was she always destined to not fit in anywhere?

She also found, as autumn merged to winter, it proved difficult to take Ron's advice about Professor Snape. It was difficult to be wary of someone who wouldn't look at you. Perversely, she found it unnerving that the man didn't pick on her at all when he was constantly torturing all of her classmates. The most interaction the Professor allowed was when he had to help her on a potion or she had to hand in an assignment, but even then he tried to avoid it. When she bought it up with Harry and his two best friends, he and Ron always said the same thing, that he was 'no good' and whatnot. But Hermione always looked thoughtful. Mia got the impression she knew something she wasn't telling them.

Additional to that, the trio were hiding a lot from her. She knew something was up. Ever since the detention Harry had had with Lockhart back in November she'd found them whispering conspiratorially about something and then quickly hush when she was near. It stopped happening so much as time went on - up until Halloween that is.

Mia had never liked Halloween. Ever since the year she found out at her old school that people used to dress up as 'Olympia Potter' and go to school in ripped and over-sized clothes. Her dislike for the day grew when Hagrid had told she and Harry that that was the day their parents had been murdered all those years ago.

And when the day had finally come in late October, she found she had spent it forlornly thinking about all her usual daydreams and fantasies of a life where her parents were been still alive. She'd spent the whole feast subdued and slightly miserable. So, naturally, she'd been the first one out the door when it had ended.

Being the first to stumble across her brother and his friends staring at what looked like a dead cat hanging from a torch holder, and words written in blood on the wall in one of the corridors on the way to the Ravenclaw common room had given her a shock, but not as much as the whole school when they'd seen the scene only moments later.

The incident was all the rage in the school in terms of gossip for the next few weeks. Mia had heard loads of crazy theories about the message ' _enemies of the heir beware'_ by the end of the week. But worst of all she suffered all kinds of garbage conversations with nosy people, from anyone like the gossips of Marlene and Delilah, to people like Colin Creevey and, to her annoyance Draco and Darien.

That whole fiasco in the corridor on her first week had been a huge mistake. It made her an almost instant target for taunting. As if being Harry Potter's sister wasn't reason enough she had to go make another one.

As time went by, she'd come to the conclusion that Draco was mostly bark and no bite and was only really bothered in having power over his people, but too much of a coward to do anything too drastic. Darien, however, was the scary one.

He wasn't afraid like so many Slytherin's were to some extent, and he was maybe slightly mad. His demeanour was most chilling; he was calm, graceful and collected right up until something bothered him and he would react unmercifully and brashly. From what Mia could see, he'd also done a lot of research into upper-year spells in defense. He had a lot of curses in his arsenal.

It was late November when she started to notice the absence of Harry and his friends at mealtimes, mainly Hermione. When she asked what was going on she'd always get the insistant response that it was nothing and could she stop asking them.

Otherwise, her school life had been going smoothly with not so much drama right up until the night Colin Creevey got petrified.

The school had been thrown into panic. Allegations and accusations were thrown from one person to the next, fear escalated within the Muggleborn population, and theories on Slytherin's 'monster' were getting crazier and crazier with each day that passed. The school had frenzied itself into such a state of hysteria that the Professors had ended up organising a duelling club.

Mia had found it a bit silly, shouldn't they be spending their time working out who it was they were meant to be duelling? Who the actual threat was.

That was why, when the lower years for the school went to the Great Hall to learn to duel an unknown enemy, the redheaded Potter went alone to the library.

She'd never seen the room so empty. Not only was there no younger years to be seen but the upper years appeared to be absent aswell, most likely relaxing before the Christmas break. The library had been somewhat of a haven to her since she'd come to Hogwarts - as it was to most Ravenclaws, she at least had something in common with the rest of her house in that respect. It was beautiful with ancient beams forging the skeleton of the room and the omnipresent, comforting smell of musty old tomes. She knew from _Hogwarts: A History_ that it had been one of the first rooms built in the castle, making it that much more inspiring.

She took a window seat in one of the corners that was usually taken by a seventh year - it having the best view over the school grounds and the rolling Scottish countryside beyond it.

How would she figure out the identity of the heir of Slytherin? Well, the logical thing would be to try and trace his family line to the present day. She guessed that Professor Dumbledore at the very least would have already done such a simple thing - or perhaps a magical variant, but there was no harm in doing a little research of her own. Maybe she could narrow it down to a few suspects in the school and continue to do research in a way Dumbledore couldn't; the cover of being a small, innocent first year at least had a few perks that the status of a Headmaster didn't.

Navigating the library was a lot easier now than it had been at the beginning of the year. What had seemed like a crazily chaotic system of organisation had now started to make sense a little. Of corse, it would make a lot more sense if Mrs Pince didn't keep changing it every few days.

It took only a little while to find a pile of books that grew to a height only marginally taller than her head which she bought back to her claimed table.

"Potter!"

Papers with names and scribbles flew everywhere when Mia's head flung up, her eyes snapped to see a very intimidating looking Mrs Pince looming over her. She hadn't even heard her approach, perhaps spending years and years in the quiet of a library one builds a skill for stealth.

"Curfews in 3 minutes. _Out!_." The slightly overweight, bespectacled lady ordered.

 _Curfew?!_ She'd been in the library for _four hours_? A quick glance out the window confirmed the sun had set a while ago. Wow. She empathised with Hermione a lot more now.

When the twelve year old made no movement the hunch-backed old lady pierced her with a fearsome glare, "Out!"

In a hurried motion Mia sweeped all of her pens into her bag and swung it onto one shoulder. On her way out she cursed herself. _Four hours_ in the library and she was still not much closer to working out the identity of the heir.

Swooping down the stairs in the direction to the Ravenclaw common room she reviewed her findings in her head. Through extensive ancestral research, she'd first narrowed it down to about 80 possible descendents of Slytherin in the school. Which, she supposed, was better than the original 320 potential students, but still wasn't that specific. The teachers had been taken into account too, though they'd gone in her head by process of elimination; why would they open the Chamber of Secrets now when they had their own entirety of their Hogwarts education to do so. Therefore, within the school student population, she'd only found 73 possible families of direct relation to the Slytherin. Most of which were in Slytherin, but some were in Ravenclaw and a few in Hufflepuff. Assuming the heir was a current Slytherin (which she thought would be), and not in either of the other houses, her search had narrowed down to 51 students. She had considered ruling out the potential suspects in their sixth and seventh years as they would almost definitely have no clue who Colin Creevey was or even existed, let alone know he was a Muggleborn. But she ended up deciding she couldn't fully rule them out without more solid evidence then that; there was a small chance a sixth or seventh year might have met or heard about the boy.

Voices drifting towards her through the ancient corridor she'd been meandering through pulled her from her thoughts.

"You're not serious?" A voice asked, dripped in amusement, "They think _Potter's_ the heir?" The incredulous statement was followed with several people's laughter.

 _Me? Why would they think -_

"As if _Potter_ could ever be related to _Salazar Slytherin_." A voice snickered. _Draco._ "The day Harry Potter is even a slither of a Slytherin is the day that oaf of a groundskeeper's life is worth a sickle."

"They know nothing." A second voice sneered. _Darien_. "We go to a school of brainless imbeciles."

 _What did they know?_ Mia thought.

As she speculated further on it, it would fit that one of them could be the heir. They would most likely know who Colin Creevey was, along with his blood status.

"To be fair, that whole Parselmouth act will keep everyone on their toes, they'll have no hope in knowing who the true heir is."

The boys laughter faded and their voices became indistinct in Mia's ears as they walked presumably back to the dungeons.

She had no idea what a Parselmouth was, nor what it had to do with her brother, but she knew that those Slytherin's must know at least something about the heir.

* * *

 **Pleeeease** **review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Enjoy X**

* * *

5

A few days later Justin Finch-Fletchley and Nearly Headless Nick were found petrified.

Her suspicions that the heir was one of the group of Slytherins in her and Harry's year had strengthened. Justin was another lower year muggleborn, which only supported the notion that the culprit was also a lower year. How would an upper year even know of Justin and Colin? Why wouldn't they have gone for a muggleborn in their own year?

The little evidence she had wasn't enough to bring to a Professor. In fact, you could hardly call it 'evidence', it was more of a few vague calculations based on loose fact along with some strong hunches on overheard conversations. Nonetheless she felt as if she needed to tell someone. She couldn't very well keep it to herself while Muggleborns were still being victimised and the threat still lingered of a hypothetical, legendary 'monster' lurking about the school.

She had come to the conclusion to tell Harry, Hermione and Ron. At least then Hermione could give some insight into it, and Harry would probably know what to do - he always did.

Yet, they were never around. The only time she would usually meet them was at mealtimes; but at breakfast, lunch, and dinner they were nowhere to be seen. When finally she walked down to the Great Hall for the Christmas Feast and there was no sight of them, Mia was debating with herself whether to inform a member of staff of her worries; she hadn't seen them anywhere for three days.

Just as she had made the decision to get up and talk to McGonagall about the three awol Gryffindors, she spied a flash of red at the entrance. Ron was there with Harry following close behind.

Smiling in relief, Mia stood up from her seat, only to watch as they hurriedly grabbed a cupcake each from the Gryffindor table and dashed back out of the room again.

The younger Potter frowned. Harry usually made an effort to see her most days without fail. Not to mention he'd been bigging up the Hogwarts Christmas Feast for months, preaching how great last years had been, and now he was opting to miss it? What was going on?

She did end up seeing him that day. He gave her a big hug and told her he was sorry he hadn't seen her much lately, he'd been busy with a school project he, Hermione, and Ron were doing. Mia had obviously been suspicious - what kind of second year school projects would have thirteen year olds _that_ busy? Additionally, why was no one else in their year as busy? But she'd let it slide as it _was_ Christmas and she hadn't seen him in so long. As he gave her his present, and she his, he still looked rather antsy, like he needed to be somewhere. So in the end she told herself she'd tell her brother her suspicions of the 'heir' at a later time.

It was a stupid decision.

Hermione ended up having to be hospitalised for a whole month after Christmas day. Apparently a potion she was experimenting with had gone wrong and she had to wait until it was out of her system. No one - with the exception of Harry and Ron - was allowed to visit the bushy haired girl due to the side effects' 'embarrassing nature'. It was horribly secretive and Mia wanted just about to kick Harry every time he warned her that it wasn't her problem and to shove off. Hermione was her friend too.

Naturally, Harry and Ron spent most of their free time with her in the hospital wing helping her catch up with school work, and when they weren't with Hermione, they were back to their old habits of secrecy and hushed conversations.

Although the opportunity never really arose to tell them her fears, her enthusiasm in letting them know was fading. There hadn't been an attack in a month and the school's gossip circle had calmed a bit. It seemed that what was once the height of drama was now preferred to not be thought about. The only rumours that were still being passed around was the one that the teachers were thinking of closing the school down.

In spite of the rumours, as January wore into February, and February to March, the school remained open and thriving.

Everything started to settle back into it's normal routine. End of year exams were slowly approaching and Mia - unlike her brother and Ron - took Hermione's advice to start studying early. Hermione, of corse, had been thrilled that someone actually wanted her to make them a study-plan and there had been no complaints in taking the younger Potter under her wing of academia.

To be truthful, exams had Mia a little more than worried. Harry and Ron had constantly assured her that first year exams were a breeze, and it didn't even matter until OWL year anyway so why bother getting stressed? But she couldn't explain to them that it was different for her: she was a Ravenclaw. How could she tell her brother that she was an outcast in her own house merely because she wasn't getting good grades?

Marlene and Delilah had stopped even trying to converse with her altogether. Even Professor Flitwick, her own Housemaster, looked at her as if she were an awkward third wheel he didn't quite know what to do with. Charles Wiseman had been sitting at the desk behind her the other day in potions and had peered over to see what mark the younger Potter had gotten for the homework that had just been handed back to them. The only thing Mia was aware of was the involuntary bark of a laugh that he quickly stifled with his sleeve when Snape turned at the sudden noise.

Another time Kevin Chan was quizzing her for an end of topic test in DADA and he asked her to spell _Arania Exumai_ aloud, judging by his expression her answer was clearly worse than wrong. He had then topped the cherry on the cake when, at the end of the test, he had asked in what he thought was a subtle way, 'Isn't your brother, like, a prodigy in Defense?"

She was the known idiot of Ravenclaw. Yes, Luna did still speak with her - of corse she did, it was Luna. But, as high of an opinion Mia had for her best and only friend, Luna was lacking some things that a girl needs in a friend sometimes. She couldn't speak to Luna about her problems, her theories, her worries, her doubts; she wouldn't understand.

Success meant exception in Ravenclaw. And exception meant everything.

To make everything worse, people in her year were starting to notice how Snape treated her differently to everyone else; even better than most of his Slytherins.

Taunts and allegations went from everything from her being his bastard child, to her being the real heir of Slytherin. Unbeknownst to Snape of corse, and Harry. If she told Harry how her classmates behaved around her he would undoubtedly come and put them in their places, but she wouldn't ever admit it to him. She didn't want their loyalties to be made through fear of her brother, she wanted real friends. While no one in her year seemed to hold much respect for her, they held it in high quantities for the Boy-Who-Lived, even if he was currently rumoured to be Slytherins heir.

Ginny and Allura were the only two people (apart from Luna, obviously) that she could bring herself to like. She felt that, had Ginny and herself been in the same house and they saw each other more, they would have really gotten on. But they weren't, so they didn't. Allura was another story. She was friends with everyone. As much as any girl (Mia included) wanted to hate the aristocratic French goddess, you just simply couldn't. She was kind to everybody, she was funny - it didn't matter who she was telling the joke to. It annoyed the hell out of Mia, but she couldn't bring herself not to love the girl at the same time.

Scarlett Oreilly was another reason she couldn't get closer to Ginny and Allura, the three were undeniably a trio. But whenever they were all together, Mia would avoid them at all costs. She couldn't _bare_ to sit and listen to Scarlett try to sweeten up to her, with her false smile and happy go-lucky best friend attitude. As much as she craved to develop a friendship with Ginny more, she couldn't willingly put herself in a position where she had to sit and listen to Scarlett chat mindlessly about how they were like, _such_ great friends, and oh my God, you have your brothers eyes - they're _incredible._ Oh and she had just been thinking about how she would _love_ for Mia to come to her holiday house down in Cornwall over the summer - and oh yeah she could bring Harry if she wanted. You know, if he was at a loose end or anything.

So most of her time in the Spring term was spent in the library. She figured if she at least got good grades in her exams maybe her teachers would at least think she wasn't completely imbecilic. Not that she had much choice anyway - as soon as she agreed to Hermione's offer of helping her revise she'd been instantly showered with set work from the Gryffindor, on top of the mountainous pile of homework she already had from the teachers.

It actually ended up being a good way to spend more time with Harry as well. The Gryffindor trio spent a lot of time in the library under Hermione's intimidating (and sometimes downright frightening) persuasion. Mia knew that among the school work they had to do they had also taken it upon themselves to try and solve the case of the Slytherin heir and what the monster could be. She had offered to help research as soon as she'd worked out what they were doing, Hermione looked keen to have another eager reader joining them, but Harry had shot her a glare and told her thanks but they didn't need it. Everytime she'd offered since he'd instantly shot her down, insisting that she shouldn't. At first he had it under the guise that she should be studying for her schoolwork (which was an unlikely command from Harry anyway). It didn't take a genius to work out he didn't want her involved for another reason. One day it annoyed her to the point they had had a spitting argument in the middle of the library and got kicked out by Mrs Pince with a detention each.

From then on she only went to the library after dinner when it was just Hermione, the boys having gone back to Gryffindor tower for the evening; she knew it was childish but she was too stubborn to sit there and let Harry control her like that. He wasn't her parent. Why did he have the right to be researching it anyway if she didn't? He wasn't _that_ much older.

Hermione looked caught between listening to Harry and letting his sister do what she wanted. Mia didn't want to put that kind of stress on her though so she kept herself from making a fuss when it was just the two of them studying together, she just got on with her school work and ignored the subject of the Slytherin heir.

It didn't stop her, however, from slyly peering at the bushy haired Gryffindors notes on yet another book of magical creatures when she left the library briefly for a bathroom break.

 _Dragons,_ _too heavy, all known kinds only seem to breathe fire to incapacitate victims._

 _Acromantulas_ _\- don't petrify - how would they move about the school unnoticed? Very rare_

 _Dementors_ _\- Could easily move about - but don't petrify people, only suck out souls. Possibly a variant - a distant relation?_

 _Basilisk -_ _Too bulky, how would it move around? Kills victims with its stare. Extinct._

The list went on and on with no creature fitting the right description, all of them being crossed out for some logical reason. No wonder Hermione was starting to look so frustrated. Her frustration built and built until it finally reached a boiling point on the day of the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor Quidditch match.

" _Ugh!_ " Hermione groaned, angrily snapping closed an old, heavy book with more force than was characteristic for Hermione. "I've been researching this for _months_ and I'm still no closer to working out what happened to Justin and Colin." She exclaimed, earning a flaming glare from Mrs Pince. It was testimony to her grievance that Hermione completely ignored the librarian.

Mia - rather startled by the sudden outburst - carefully shut her own book closed and glanced sympathetically at the second year, "Why don't we take a break? The Quidditch match is about to start soon and -"

"I don't need a _break._ " The brunette snapped with such vigour it actually made the Potter jump. Hermione took a breath and sighed, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that." She apologised sincerely, "Why don't you head off now and get a good seat? I'll meet you out there. I just need a bit of thinking time to myself." Mia stared at the girl diagnostically, "I promise, I'm fine." The girl assured, "I'll meet you out there."

Mia only nodded, swinging her bag onto her shoulder and leaving the Gryffindor in peace.

The students had already vacated the castle for the upcoming game, the library was being completely empty and the halls leading away from it were quiet. She couldn't wait for the final match of the year; she loved Quidditch almost as much as her brother. Next year she'd promised herself she would tryout for the Ravenclaw team. Ravenclaw wasn't quite as good as the Gryffindor or Slytherin team, but hopefully that would change with new players over the years. Over the year she'd gone to every Quidditch game (even the ones without Ravenclaw or Gryffindor playing), taking mental notes down of all the movements and tactics she noticed. Harry really was a very good player - an accident prone one to her dismay, but a good one all the same. She had given him quite the bashing for the stunt he'd pulled that ended with a broken arm (and then a boneless one once Lockhart was done with it, stupid git).

So off with her own thoughts was she that she didn't hear the footsteps and breathing of people coming round the corner. Her nose bashed straight into the hard shoulder of a robed figure.

" _Watch it_ Potter!" A deep voice growled. Clutching her throbbing nose and backing up instinctively, she peered up to see the sneering face of Darien Noire. "Or has your sight finally caught up with your renowned stupidity?

Mia glared at the dark haired boy who had been taunting her all year. "You're the one that's ramming round blind corners, Noire, and you're calling _me_ stupid." She spat at her nemesis, peering over at his brother that was standing next to him. Zach was, as usual, mostly silent while his dark eyes observed the scene. _Coward_. "It's not too much of a surprise you're not a Ravenclaw."

Noire grinned wickedly, "And what - as if you could think of yourself as a Ravenclaw?" He asked sardonically, licking his lips in amusement, "You could barely count to ten using your fingers. In fact, I'm genuinely surprised you can speak in full sentences. Everyone knows you're the schools moron." While Noire smirked devilishly, Goode looked on disinterestedly at the whole affair, his eyes darting at Mia every so often, "I have a theory that the _Avada Kedavra_ curse that killed your parents rebounded off your brain." Mia glared daggers at Darien, doing her best to ignore how hard his words hit home. Sensing her vulnerability he continued, "The best thing is that you know it. You're a stupid, friendless, orphan that has a brother too busy for her and not even any parents to love her."

"I'd rather have parents that died sacrificing their lives for me than have parents who didn't care about me enough to let themselves get captured in Azkaban and have their sanity ripped away from them." Mia spat coldly, stubbornly neglecting the suspicious stinging of her eyes.

Before Darien could add his own scathing remark, Zach placed a grounding hand on his brother's shoulder, his eye's looking more alert then only moments before, "Come on Darien, you're going to be late."

Darien eyed up Mia, huffing calmingly, his lips splitting into a grim smirk with his last comment, "They didn't sacrifice their lives for you. They sacrificed their lives for your brother."

With that Darien swooped dramatically down the corridor and around the corner. Following casually behind his brother, before he vanished completely Mia noticed the dark haired boy spare her a quick glance with a trademark unreadable expression.

The moment they were both out of eyeshot, her eyes quickly fogged up and water slowly started spilling down her cheeks. Wiping her face aggressively she spun on her heel and stormed in the direction of the Quidditch pitch.

* * *

"I can't believe it."

"What can't you believe?"

"It got Hermione." Mia gasped, her head hung heavy in her hands, "That _thing_ petrified Hermione."

Luna shuffled up on the bench and put an arm around the redhead, stroking her back rhythmically. "It could be worse you know."

"How?" Mia grumbled, not in the mood to hear about how the Knocklenorpp Pixies could've eaten their way into Hermione's brain and she'd never be able to use her sixth sense again or something else as equally crazy. It was the last thing she wanted to hear after the last hour she'd had. As soon as she'd got to the Quidditch pitch, she'd watched as Madam Hooch had hysterically ordered for the match to be cancelled just as Professor McGonagall approached the Gryffindor team, hastily pulling Harry and Ron away. Mia didn't stop running the whole way to the Hospital Wing to find them all, along with Snape, Dumbledore, and Madam Pomfrey, gathered around a hospital bed looking down forlornly at the girl occupying it. Hermione lay atop the covers, as still as a statue. It almost made Mia feel physically ill to see her brothers best friend like that - her pale face with glassy eyes frozen in focus at something that was no longer there. It made her feel even worse when she knew she had been the last person to see the Gryffindor, if only she had insisted on staying with her, or waited outside the library like any good friend would do. After telling the Professors all the information she could about Hermione's last moments before being froze, Harry immediately sought her out, naturally picking up on the guilt she'd been feeling. He had assured her that she shouldn't feel bad - and what good would it have done if she had stayed with Hermione anyway? She would only have been petrified as well.

Yet, instead of preaching the usual garble, the blonde said something that took Mia completely by surprise, "At least it didn't kill her like it did the last time."

"Last time?" Mia's head quickly rose to meet her friends cloudy blue eyes, "What do you mean?"

Luna shrugged, "You know, the last time the Chamber was opened." She prompted, as if this was meant to mean something to Mia, "The girl that was killed."

"... Luna, what're you talking about?" Mia asked, her eyes dancing quizzically, "The Chamber's been opened before?"

"Of corse." The girl smiled simply, biting into an apple.

"When?" Mia urged.

Luna took her time chewing, "Around five decades ago." She supplied thoughtfully.

Mia shuffled away from the girl to get a clearer view of her face, "How did you find this out."

The blonde looked at her dreamily, "In a book of corse." She grinned, then contemplated her apple, "A very interesting book, a bit different to how I'm used to reading. Very creative. "

Food forgotten Mia stared at Luna, "Where is it? Could I borrow it?" She asked, already gathering her things to leave and collect it.

Luna hummed, "Hmm, yes I haven't seen it in quite sometime I'm afraid; I have a nasty habit of misplacing things. I'm sorry if you were attached to it."

The readhead paused mid-motion, "Why would I be attached to it?"

"Because it was your's silly." Luna chuckled.

Mia frowned, "... When did I give you a book?"

"On the first day, so I could write my thoughts down, remember?" Luna incited, her turn to be confused.

 _The notebook?_ But that was blank… She remembered flipping through the pages, it had nothing in it. Out of the hundreds of questions bubbling around in her head, one made it's way to the surface, "What do you mean by it was a different way to ' _how'_ you're used to reading?"

Luna looked at her questioningly and cocked her head, "It was a Memory Journal, did you not read it at all?" Then she smiled a little, "It charms you in to see a bit of someone's memory. Fantastic bit of magic. It was a little too Dark for my tastes but fantastic all the same."

"...Dark?"

"Oh yes," Luna hummed conversationally, "Of corse, that was clear from the Fobsapsa Sprite infestation."

"The infestation you saw when I first gave it to you?" Mia asked incredulously, remembering the breakfast conversation all those months ago, "You knew it was Dark and you still took it?"

"Oh definitely." Luna nodded, "You should never look at Dark and Light magic as if there are no shades of Grey. The more you learn about the Dark, the more you can do for the Light. For example… take a stick. A stick isn't harmful, is it? In fact it's quite useful, you can build shelter out of it, or a water dowser. It's only when you choose to sharpen it and stab someone that it becomes something bad." As always, the unexpected bit of wisdom took Mia aback, leaving her jaw slack. "Anyway," The whimsical girl headed, "I'm going to go and try to find my third matching sock again." She smiled sadly, placing a comforting hand on Mia's shoulder, "I'm sorry about your friend." She wished, and then began to float out of the Great Hall.

"Wait Luna," Mia hollered before the girl was out of earshot, "Do you know how it happened? How the girl died?"

"No." Luna cocked her head thoughtfully, "But I would say the best way to find out would probably be to ask her."

 _...Ask her?_ "How would I…" Mia baffled.

"She lives in the the girls toilet on the first floor, quite a nice girl." She chimed, "I'll see you at dinner."

* * *

It was a few days later that she decided to act on Luna's advice, school work was still coming by the bucket load and she hadn't found the time.

Mia had never been to the first floor bathroom before, she couldn't believe that she'd lived at Hogwarts for nine months now and she had barely even explored two thirds of the castle - despite her numerous late night adventures. Opening the large, heavy door she stepped through tentatively, not completely sure what she was expecting to find.

Her footsteps echoed around the surprisingly large, cavernous, bathroom. It was clearly not used very often, brown grime climbing up the large stone walls and small leaks here and there gave the impression it wasn't as well maintained as other bathrooms in the castle.

"Who goes there!"

Mia jumped at the shrill skriek. As she turned a whimsy sem-transparent figure shot towards her, the face of a pig-tailed ghost staring intensely at her appeared two inches away from her own.

The Ravenclaw had to take a moment to draw a breath, adrenaline high in her veins. Swallowing, she mumbled meekly, "My name is Olympia." The ghosts face merely continued to stare at her, haunted dark eyes analysing every inch of her. "What's yours?" She asked, not knowing what else to say.

"What?" The girl spat, "You've never heard of miserable, moping, Moaning Myrtle before?" She challenged cynically.

 _Moaning Myrtle?_ Mia thought maybe she had heard it before, perhaps in passing.

"...No? I'm sorry. I don't think I have." She said tactfully, "I may be wrong but I don't believe we've met before."

Myrtle's face softened a slight bit, she backed up a couple inches. "And why would you want to?" She inquired, distrust evident in her eyes.

"I don't know… don't you want to be met?" Mia asked, sensing how carefully she would have to put her words with the ghost.

The girl frowned, her lip trembling as she whimpered "Not if I'm going to get laughed at."

"I'm not laughing."

"But you will." The ghost assured. "They all do."

"Not me," Mia corrected, "I'm used to being laughed at too."

She watched the girl's shoulders instantly lessen a fraction in tension, the distrust on her face merging to curiosity. "You are?" Mia only bowed her head. Myrtle's eyes softened but narrowed, "What're you doing here then, _Olympia?"_ She questioned suspiciously.

"I just need to use the toilet." Mia shrugged, "But I can leave if you want."

"No," The girl said, her lips then spreading into a girlish grin, "You can even use my toilet if you want."

Mia smiled at her, trying to be thankful and ignoring the mood swings the girl displayed, "Thank you Myrtle."

"It's that one… over there." The girl pointed at the far most cubicle on the right.

To say it was a bit awkward to listen to herself go for a pee she didn't even need, the sound effect of water on water echoing in the otherwise silent stone bathroom with a ghost just outside, would be to put it mildly. Hurrying to finish and flush, she unlocked the door and strolled lesuirely out towards the sink.

"So," She pondered conversationally, "Why do you consider that particular one _your_ toilet?"

Mrytle seemed to think about the question, looking as though she were deciding whether to take offense or not. Mia breathed a sigh of relief when the emotionally temperamental girl concluded it was an alright thing to ask.

"Because _that's_ the one I _died_ in." She whispered, floating close to Mia's ear to do so."

Mia pretended to look shocked, "That's awful!" She gasped.

Myrtle nodded her head modestly though looking quite proud of herself, "Yes it was quite."

"If you don't mind me asking," Mia said cautiously, "how did it happen?"

She was dismayed to see the girl's face frown instantly, opening mouth to scream something no-doubt aggressive. When at the last moment she appeared to change her mind and instead unleashed a barrelling stream of tears as her lip began to quiver once again, "It was _horrible_." She cried, "All I was doing was minding my own business. Olive Hornby had just teased me about my glasses and I went to the toilet to try and throw them away. I had finally stopped crying when I stepped out of the cubicle, and there they were," She paused dramatically, gazing theatrically over her shoulder.

"What were?" Mia prompted, somewhat irritably.

"A pair of big, monstrous, yellow eyes." She said, emphasising each word slowly. "And that's it, I was dead."

Mia frowned, genuinely confused, "Well that's a rather… unfair way to go."

"Yes," Myrtle agreed idly, twirling her translucent hair, "I suppose so."

"Do you remember anything else?"

The ghost sighed and slowly shook her head, "No…" She mumbled, "Though there were some funny hissing noises."

"From the monster?"

"Perhaps," Myrtle hummed, "Though I thought there was another thing making the noises too, maybe I was wrong."

That evening she found Harry and Ron predictably by Hermione's bedside. The girl hadn't moved a muscle since the day she had been petrified. They seemed to be talking to her about something, but the moment the Hospital wing doors opened to admit the younger Potter they stopped short. Mia ignored it; she knew they wouldn't tell her what they had been saying.

"Hey," She greeted.

"Actually Mia, we were just off." Harry said quickly, looking pointedly at Ron for confirmation, "There's something we have to do for Hagrid."

Mia pursed her lips, "He's just been arrested hasn't he? Luna told me, what bloody idiots."

Ron grimaced sourly, "Yeah."

"What do you have to do for him?" She asked, approaching Hermione's bed.

"It's not important." Harry deadpanned.

Mia huffed in an attempt to soothe her irritation at her brother. They had only just got back to civil terms after Hermione's petrification, and as much as she wanted to complain about the whole 'protective big brother' thing which entailed that she knew _nothing_ about what they were doing, she knew there were bigger things of more importance at that moment - a fight wouldn't solve anything. She'd have to have a word to him about it later.

"I don't if it will help," She started, "But I just was talking with Moaning Myrtle."

Harry's face instantly crumpled in disapproval, " _Olly_ , I've _told_ you; stay away from this, plea-"

"Oh shut up." Mia snapped, "It was just a conversation! What? Am I not allowed to talk to anyone anymore? Is it too _dangerous_ for me?" Taking a calming breath, she looked away from him, "Look, I just wanted to tell you that she was killed when the Chamber was last opened - _yes_ ," She interrupted the certain onslaught of questions when their faces broke out in surprise, "It has been opened before, fifty years ago. Luna found out in a Dark memory diary. Myrtle was killed by whatever the monster was. All she saw before she pegged it was yellow eyes. She also thought she heard some hissing," Ron shot Harry a meaningful and alarmed look, Harry looked equally anxious at her words, "So, I'm thinking that maybe the hissing was like what you do; a Parseltongue thing. Meaning maybe the monster is of a derivative background to a snake or perhaps -"

But the boys didn't seem interested to hear her theories. Apparently what she had revealed meant _something_ to them. Harry quickly swung a bag over his shoulder and cut her short, "Thanks Mia, but we've got to go."

" _Wait!_ " She called irritably before they left the threshold of the wing. "Can I come? Harry, you _can't_ keep sidelining me like this when-"

" _No!_ " Was all Harry responded, he and Ron rushing out the door and down the stairs.

"Ugh!" Mia growled loudly into the empty Hospital wing, childishly grinding a foot into the old stone floor.

When this was over she was going to have to have a word about the whole discluding her for 'her own good' or whatever. He couldn't act like he was some almighty commander over her just because she was younger. Surely they should be telling a Professor instead of gallivanting into situations like a true Gryffindor anyway? Was it bravery or idiocy? You could never know with Harry.

Resignedly plopping herself down into the stall that stayed by Hermione's bedside, she looked at the unanimated face of her brothers best friend and her tutor she'd become quite fond of. It looked so unnatural to see her chest remain still, a bated breath waiting to be breathed the moment she was cured.

"What do you think Hermione?" She asked, "Do you think it's unfair? Yeah, I thought so." She smiled, "Maybe you can help talk to him with me - he'll actually listen to you." Her smile faded into a sad one, "He always told me - back at the Dursleys, that they were lying when they said I was a stupid girl. I always thought maybe he was right; I did have to try to get worse grades so I didn't outshine Dudley's marks from when he was my age, so I never truly knew where I stood. Harry always made me feel clever anyway. But now…" Her smile cracked and she looked down, "All the other students think I'm an idiot and all I had to ground me was that I believed at least Harry knew I wasn't. But he's starting to not listen to a word I'm saying. Like any idea I have is instantly a bad one just because it came out of _my_ mouth - just like the rest of my year think. And I'm trying so _freaking_ _hard_ Hermione, I swear I am. I've even being sticking to your schedules while you've been… you know, here. But I don't think its enough. My absolute best isn't enough. I'm trying so hard but I don't know how I'll ever get anyone to respect what I have to say."

She gazed out the windows, able to spy the full moon burning a soft blue haze into the otherwise dark hospital wing. "I know it seems like I'm being overdramatic. But you, of all people, you must know how badly you don't want anyone to believe you're not as capable as you are. You have just a strong a thirst to prove yourself as I do." Her eyes landed sadly on the freckled faze of the frozen girl, her hand reaching out to hold hers. "But the difference is is that you're actually doing a pretty good job of proving them wrong."

Mia frowned, her fingers that had been lightly clutching Hermione's fondled something that made a rather loud crunching sound in the silence of the large room. Pulling out what she figured to be a piece of parchment from Hermione's tight grasp, she opened the severely crumpled paper with fumbling fingers. It was an old, yellow stained and ever-so-slightly moldy page torn from a book. _That's not very like Hermione to rip anything from a book,_ she couldn't help but think.

 _Basilisk_

 _A giant serpent also known as the King of Serpents, glaring directly into its yellow eyes will result in immediate death of it's victim. However indirect contact will merely render them petrified._

The page went on with information but that was all Mia needed to know. She needed to tell someone, Harry, a Professor.

Leaping up from her stall she tripped up on her school robes in her haste to get out of the Hospital Wing and to the Headmasters office. Regaining balance she sprinted as fast as her legs could carry her out of the room, past the petrified bodies of students, through the doors and -

An agonising, thunderous pain ripped through her skull.

Something hard and heavy brutally smashed into the back of her head. Her body flew forward with the force of it. She only had a moment to acknowledge the agony.

The last thing she saw was the floor speedily coming up to meet her face, but as far as she knew she may not have made impact before her eyes slammed shut and she knew know more.

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